Russia’s War, Bangladesh’s Trafficking Crisis
On November 6, 2026, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General announced a criminal investigation into human trafficking, including the possible involvement of Russian authorities in recruiting and transporting foreign nationals to fight in Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine.
The month before, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reported that nationals from 29 countries, including Bangladesh, had been trafficked into the Russian armed forces.
Bangladeshi authorities recently arrested two men, Mizanur Rahman and Abu Taher, for their alleged involvement in a trafficking network that recruited Bangladeshis to fight for Russia. According to Bangladeshi authorities, the suspects lured people to Russia with false promises of high-paying jobs.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bangladeshi men have been recruited by brokers promising civilian or non-combat jobs. They were deceived, transported and exploited as soldiers, with some sent to the frontlines of Russia’s war against Ukraine. These practices may amount to human trafficking.
Some of those trafficked into the Russian military have been injured or killed. Others have survived to tell their stories. “I was tricked into the war by the brokers,” Arman Mondol, a survivor, told us at a teashop in his hometown in Rajbari District. “What happened to me is unjust, and I hope it does not happen to others again.”
Ukrainian authorities provided Fortify Rights, Truth Hounds, and several Bangladeshi journalists with an opportunity to interview Bangladeshi men being held as prisoners of war in Ukraine. One Bangladeshi prisoner of war, speaking to us by video call from a detention facility in Ukraine, described how he ended up fighting for Russia after traveling to the country to work.
After completing a six-month employment contract in Russia, the man faced an uncertain future. His family had paid thousands of dollars to secure his employment abroad, and he was reluctant to return to Bangladesh without earning more remittances. He and another Bangladeshi worker found a leaflet advertising opportunities with the Russian military.
They called the number, and Russian military personnel transported them to a training facility.
The man said he signed a contract he did not understand. He believed his role would be limited to delivering supplies rather than participating in combat. Instead, following military training, he and his friend were deployed to the frontline in Ukraine, where they spent days sheltering beneath trees, surrounded by the bodies of dead Russian soldiers.
“I willingly joined the Russian army. I joined for money, but I had no idea that I would be taking part in the war on the battlefield,” he told us on the video call. “I did not think I would personally take part in the fighting.”
Five days after arriving at the frontline, he was captured by Ukrainian forces. He is now being held as a prisoner of war.
He wants to return to Bangladesh but also hopes to recover the money he says he is owed for joining the Russian military. He said he also wanted to return to Russia to claim his Russian citizenship.
His account shows that the risks facing Bangladeshi migrant workers do not end with recruitment. Even those who enter Russia through legitimate employment arrangements may later be pressed into military service, exploited or induced to join the armed forces by promises of money or citizenship.
Russia has made this route attractive through decrees allowing foreigners who sign military service contracts to obtain citizenship. Yet none of the Bangladeshi men we spoke with received citizenship.
Some men sign contracts without understanding the terms or the likelihood of being sent into combat. But signing does not establish informed consent, particularly when the work has been misrepresented.
Under the Palermo Protocol, the UN treaty on human trafficking, consent is irrelevant when deception is used. Such cases may constitute trafficking or another form of exploitation under international law, even when the men willingly signed contracts.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led government has made progress in addressing trafficking of its citizens since winning elections in February. The recent arrests of alleged traffickers are a step toward accountability. In June 2026, three months after Fortify Rights and Truth Hounds exposed the trafficking of Bangladeshi men to the frontlines in Ukraine, the government revoked the licenses of three recruitment agencies implicated in deceptively sending Bangladeshi men to Russia.
Yet Bangladesh is considering a major expansion of labor migration to Russia. The two countries are working to expand labor cooperation, with Dhaka proposing to increase the number of Bangladeshi workers in Russia from approximately 10,000 to 100,000 within the next year.
Documented cases of trafficking and exploitation raise serious concerns about migrant workers' safety. Any bilateral agreement must include enforceable safeguards against deceptive recruitment, forced labor and trafficking, alongside effective monitoring and accessible complaint mechanisms.
The BNP-led government should formally engage with Ukrainian authorities to identify Bangladeshi prisoners of war, obtain information about their circumstances and facilitate the safe repatriation of those identified as trafficking survivors.
Ukraine should screen all foreign fighters held as prisoners of war for trafficking and other abuses. It should work with international anti-trafficking organizations, including the International Organization for Migration, to identify survivors and ensure they receive protection.
Both governments must work together to screen prisoners of war for signs of trafficking. The men caught in this trap deserve protection and a safe way home.
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Tanbirul Miraj Ripon is a freelance journalist and researcher based in Bangladesh. John Quinley is a director at Fortify Rights, a human rights organization. Follow him on X: @john_hq3.