Erik Møse, a Norwegian jurist and Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, has extensive experience in international human rights and criminal law.
In this exclusive interview with MakanDay editor Charles Mafa, Erik Møse, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, explains why Zambia was excluded from the commission’s latest findings on the trafficking of foreign nationals into Russia’s armed forces. He also discusses the role of recruitment agents, Russian authorities, African governments and the fate of Africans captured in Ukraine.
Read the full interview below.
Charles Mafa: Chair Møese, beyond the findings already presented in your latest report, what has your Commission established about the scale and organisation of the recruitment of foreign nationals into Russia’s armed forces, particularly from Africa?
Erik Møse: So, answering your question, I think I would say shortly that we have found on the Russian side war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violation and in scale.
And that covers torture and sexual violence, just to mention a few. And the drone attacks, short range drones attacking civilians. So, attacks against civilians has been a major area of our discussions.
On the Ukrainian side, we have found some violations in connection with collaborators, persons having been accused of collaborating with the Russians and some other minor issues or some limited numbers of issues. So, that’s the rough picture about our findings.
Charles Mafa: Now, Chair, beyond the findings that you’ve already presented in your latest report, what has the commission established about the scale and organisation of the recruitment of foreign nationals into Russia’s armed forces, for example, particularly from Africa?
Erik Møse: Now, we started investigations of that topic earlier this year, 2026, and there is a relatively brief coverage of that in our report from March 2026. But it was the report we submitted to the General Assembly yesterday, the third committee of the General Assembly, that this was one of our main topics together with another one, namely energy, attacks against energy-related infrastructure. And focussing on your question, it follows from the report published yesterday that we have found 29 countries where there has been trafficking of persons.
And that has been the legal conclusion, having investigated recruitment of foreign nationals into the Russian armed forces. And with respect to Africa, in particular, you will see the list in paragraph 38 of the report. And according to my counting, it’s 11 countries from Africa listed there.
And we can generally say that we have found that since 2024, there have been clear patterns of recruitment of nationals from particular countries and geographic regions to serve in the Russian armed forces. It does not cover Africa only, but also some other parts of the world. But I’m answering this question because that was your focus.
Charles Mafa: In 2022, for example, a Zambian student who had been imprisoned in Russia died fighting in Ukraine after being recruited by the Wagner private military group. Did your commission investigate, examine this case or similar cases involving foreign nationals in those circumstances?
Erik Møse: Yeah, when it comes to this particular situation you mentioned of this Zambian student, we have not in our report referred to any individual cases.
So let me say that among the countries listed there, we have not been able to find evidence to corroborate the incidents brought to our attention in order to find the necessary threshold to make a finding with respect to Zambia. Maybe I should first say a little bit more about what we have made of findings when it comes to this kind of recruitment. I think that could be helpful.
And so in that report we have described how men from different countries have been deceived and lured to the Russian Federation with poor promises of employment. And recruiting agents operating in different geographic regions have advertised the fake jobs offering high salaries. They have mislaid recruits as to the true nature of the work.
They have referred to civilian work opportunities in the Russian Federation and then organising the travel to the Russian Federation. And we’ve seen that in several regions of the world. And it’s been the same approach everywhere, namely that agents persuade these persons and then assist with tickets, visa, etc., and then assist in the transportation to the Russian Federation.
And once in the Russian Federation, they are then brought to the Ministry of Defence and are forced to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defence. They are written in Russian so that they do not know what they are signing. And then they are sent to the front line, and many have been killed or wounded.
So that is the overall picture of what we have found in our report. And maybe another question also of a general nature I could offer you, namely, you ask about Zambia in particular. And you are asking why Zambia is not listed amongst our countries in our report.
And I would like to explain why that is the case, please. Because you see, according to our methodology, it is important that we have sufficient evidence which is corroborated so that we can present it as a conclusion based on the factual investigations we are carrying on. We need a sufficient, solid basis.
And that is why of many countries that we have actually been in, we have been examining 48 countries, but it was with respect to these 29 countries that we could find solid conclusions that had been going on. And this does not mean that there was no trafficking in those other countries, including Sambia. It means that we can conclude at this stage of our investigations.
Charles Mafa: So, you also mentioned in your report that you did send about 69 letters to countries asking for information about foreign recruitment, but only six countries were able to respond. Was Zambia among those countries that you contacted? And did our government respond?
Erik Møse: You are absolutely right. We did send 69 letters to countries seeking information about this kind of recruitment.
I’m not, based on the working methods of the Commission, I’m not in a position to identify which countries responded and which did not. But I think this is an interesting point you are raising, because the fact that only six out of 69 countries replied underscores the need for greater engagement by states in addressing trafficking. And a stronger engagement by governments in efforts to prevent this and to investigate and to respond to trafficking is, sorry, and let me stress that to investigate and to prosecute individuals or agents or entities that are involved in recruitment activities on a state’s territory is an obligation under international law.
So, states take appropriate measures to investigate allegations of such conduct and when they find sufficient evidence to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
Charles Mafa: Did your work or investigation uncover evidence of African government officials or politicians or any other persons of influence knowingly facilitating these recruitment operations? If so, are you able to mention some of those countries where this is happening?
Erik Møse: Well, we are not naming any particular specificities in connection with countries which I already addressed and which are mentioned or listed in our report. We have decided not to mention that person by name. We often do not mention speaking in the report if it’s not absolutely indispensable. But of course, information that is relevant can be, persons can ask for such information at the, from the commissions if someone is in the prosecutorial, at the prosecutorial stage.
Charles Mafa: But in general, are you able to mention, for example, how many African countries that you were able to identify where this is happening?
Chair Erik Moese: Well, we have, in a way, investigated 48 countries and we have then been able to collaborate information relating to the 29 countries.
And when it comes to the 29 countries, I’m in a position to indicate that those I mentioned in the beginning of the exchange and who are listed in the report are the ones we have talked about in our report.
Charles Mafa: So has this information that you gathered been officially communicated to these governments, in particular African governments?
Erik Møse: The system in the Commission is that we assemble evidence and then we publish our report. That is the way it works. And then it will be for those countries or those sources that are interested to contact us in case they want more information.
There is no specific conclusion or any specific answer sent to our individual sources in connection with investigations.
Charles Mafa: What about when it comes to the involvement of Russian diplomatic missions in African countries? Have any links been established that these missions, diplomatic missions in Africa, are facilitating the recruitment operations?
Erik Møse: So in our report, we have noted that visas for recruits were issued by Russian embassies in the countries concerned. And often with applications being processed through recruitment agents, the local agents in these countries.
But we have not examined nor have we found whether the Russian diplomatic missions were actively involved in the trafficking process. Aha, so it’s visa issuing which we heard, that is what we have mentioned in our report. Yeah, so I mean, for you to issue a visa, you must have a fuller understanding and backing of whatever these persons are going to do in your countries.
Charles Mafa: Does that help us have some understanding that perhaps these foreign diplomatic missions are fully aware of these recruitments?
Erik Møse: Yeah, well, I don’t know. I don’t have anything to add about this. All I know is that these are requests, and the aim being, according to the agents who are recruiting these recruits, that they will travel to Russia for civilian purposes, civilian jobs. That is, I know, that was what was processed. I don’t, that is the knowledge I have about this.
Charles Mafa: Is there any evidence that the Commission gathered that links some of the senior Russian military or government officials to these recruitments of foreign nationals?
Erik Møse: We have not identified any specific Russian military or government officials in the activities, naming individuals, etc. But what we have noted is that what was used was similar recruitment methods across different countries and regions, and there was coordinated interaction between recruitment agents and Russian authorities.
It was a consistent pattern of treatment once the recruits arrived in the Russian Federation. And then, as I mentioned, as a response to one of your previous questions, shortly after their arrival, the recruits were compelled to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defence to serve in the Russian forces. So, we have not identified specific military or government officials, as I said, but nevertheless, the recurrent, together with the current coordination between recruitment agents and Russian authorities, point to a degree of involvement by Russian state authorities in recruitment, in the recruitment process.
Charles Mafa: Has the Commission, at this stage and from your findings, identified whether any of the African nationals are currently being held as prisoners of war in Ukraine? And if so, are there efforts to facilitate their repatriation?
Erik Møse: I’m happy to answer that question as well. So, the Commission has interviewed a number of African nationals that are currently held as prisoners of war in Ukraine. And it will then be for each, as of the situation of each individual, must then be addressed by Ukraine in coordination with the person’s country of origin.
So, any measures taken with respect to these individuals must, of course, be carried out in contact between the state of origin, between Ukraine, and in accordance with the Third Geneva Convention. And we are not so far, we are not so far, based on our investigations of any case, in which African prisoners of war have been transferred to their country of origin, returned back to their country of origin. Yeah.
Charles Mafa: Is this recruitment just happening on the Russian side, or Ukraine as well has been recruiting? Are there any traces or evidence that you could say, even because this war involves two countries?
Erik Møse: We have not found any evidence of this kind of recruitment on the Ukrainian side. Of course, let me say that there is a difference between persons voluntarily being enlisted in armies, that happens in armed conflicts, and that there is no evidence with respect to Ukraine that they have used this kind of methodology.
The Commission has interviewed people who were fighting for Ukraine, but that was not as a consequence of being lured into a situation, but it was voluntarily, and they were paid for their activities as armed soldiers in the conflict. Yeah. What could be the reason, mainly for someone to voluntarily offer themselves to be involved in war?
Charles Mafa: Is there a link with economies of the states where these countries, these men and women are coming from?
Erik Møse: Now we are maybe in a way getting closer to a general discussion about what brings people to do this.
I think at least that our report shows that many of those who decided to be enlisted in, for instance, African countries or in other parts of the world, and then to go to Russia, thinking for civilian purposes, they, of course, did it not knowing that they would end up in the military situation. So, that is the situation of the persons that we have interviewed, and this topic, when it now turns to why other people who knowingly look into the possibility of fighting for other states, that happens. We all know that there are mercenaries around the world, people wishing to join conflicts, and now I’m talking generally, because of their knowledge about how to handle weapons, maybe also excitement, maybe economic.
There can be many reasons, but that is a different situation, and that does not fall inside this report. This report is only a report about deception, as in really ruling people who thought they were going to have civilian work and who ended up at the battlefield. That is our report.
Charles Mafa: I know you did mention earlier in our discussion that it is not in the interest of the Commission to individually engage the African government. Is it the same also with, for example, the African Union, to share these findings and to see whether this is something that they need to start talking about at that level?
Erik Møse: We are willing to share that information. I mean, the whole purpose of our activity as a Commission of enquiry is to assist states with who want to ensure accountability, and for instance also who would like to assist individuals who are in a difficult situation.
So, we are available. We are ready to share relevant information if any state should request it, and that is as regards further details as to whether others would like to contact us or not. The principle is anyone can.
There is no point in going into too much detail there. We stand ready to assist with information for those who want our knowledge. From past experience, from the reports that you’ve done before, have you had any engagement, any African governments in particular getting in touch with you to obtain more information with the possibility of seeing what they could do, especially if it involves their own nationals? Has this been the case? No.
Even if I had worked previously on the African continent, that has not happened, and that would also actually not be the right procedure. Anyone who wants to get information for this from our Commission should get in touch with our secretariat in Vienna. Our address is on the website.
Møse, a Norwegian jurist and Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, has extensive experience in international human rights and criminal law. He previously served as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a judge of the European Court of Human Rights and a judge of Norway’s Supreme Court.
He also chaired the Council of Europe’s Steering Committee for Human Rights and the expert committee responsible for drafting the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture.
Discover more from MAKANDAY
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
