UK’s Sunak vows emergency law after top court rules Rwanda migrant scheme unlawful

Update UK’s Sunak vows emergency law after top court rules Rwanda migrant scheme unlawful
Above, protesters stand outside the Supreme Court in London on Nov. 15, 2023. Britain’s highest court is set to rule Wednesday, Nov. 15. The high court’s ruling dealt a massive blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s immigration policy. (AP)
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Updated 15 November 2023
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UK’s Sunak vows emergency law after top court rules Rwanda migrant scheme unlawful

UK’s Sunak vows emergency law after top court rules Rwanda migrant scheme unlawful
  • “My patience has run thin, as I do believe the country’s patience has run thin,” Sunak told reporters
  • The top court on Wednesday ruled that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country

LONDON: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would pass an emergency law and warned Britain could quit the European human rights’ convention after the UK’s top judges dealt him a major blow by ruling his scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful.
After the UK Supreme Court said his flagship immigration policy could not proceed as it was, Sunak said he was working on a new treaty with Rwanda, and would bring in an urgent law to declare the East African nation a safe destination for migrants.
“My patience has run thin, as I do believe the country’s patience has run thin, and that’s why we’ll take all the necessary steps to ensure that we can remove any further blockages toward getting this policy executed,” Sunak told reporters.
Under the scheme, Britain intended to send tens of thousands of asylum seekers who arrived on its shores without permission to Rwanda in a bid to deter large numbers of migrants crossing the Channel from Europe in small boats.
But the top court on Wednesday ruled that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country, delighting opponents who said the policy was unworkable and cruel, and infuriating those on the right wing of Sunak’s Conservative Party.
The first planned flight to Rwanda was blocked last June after the European Court of Human Rights granted a temporary injunction to a small number of asylum seekers.
Sunak signalled to his angry lawmakers that Britain could potentially leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other such treaties as some have demanded, saying he would do what was necessary to allow the deportation flights to start in the spring of next year.
“I told parliament earlier today that I’m prepared to change our laws and revisit those international relationships to remove the obstacles in our way. So let me tell everybody now, I will not allow a foreign court to block these flights,” he said.
“I fundamentally do not believe that anyone thinks the founding aims of the European Convention on Human Rights was to stop a sovereign parliament removing illegal migrants to a country deemed to be safe in parliamentary statute and binding international law.”
The Rwanda scheme, originally drawn up by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in an initial 140 million pound deal, is the central plank of Sunak’s immigration policy as he prepares to face an election next year, amid rising concern among some voters about the numbers of asylum seekers from Europe.
The ruling had taken on even greater political significance after Sunak on Monday sacked Interior Minister Suella Braverman, a popular figure on his party’s right whose remit included dealing with immigration.
She launched a scathing attack on Sunak on Tuesday, saying he had broken promises on tackling immigration and betrayed the British people.

’BROKEN PROMISES’
After becoming prime minister in October last year, Sunak, whose party is trailing by some 20 points in opinion polls, vowed to “stop the boats.”
This year more than 27,000 people have arrived on the southern English coast without permission, after a record 45,755 were detected in 2022. Meanwhile the cost of housing the 175,000 migrants awaiting an asylum decision is costing 8 million pounds ($10 million) a day.
Critics, ranging from opposition lawmakers as well as some Conservatives to church leaders and the United Nations refugee agency, had argued the policy was flawed, a waste of money, immoral and simply would not work.
“He was told over and over again that this would happen, that it wouldn’t work, and it was just the latest Tory (Conservative) gimmick,” Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour party, told parliament.
“But he bet everything on it. And now he’s totally exposed. The central pillar of his government has crumbled beneath it.”
Supreme Court President Robert Reed said the five judges involved agreed there were substantial grounds to believe those sent to Rwanda would be at real risk of being returned to their country of origin where they could be at risk of ill-treatment.
This would be in breach of a number of international treaties, including the ECHR, Reed said. But he left open the chance the scheme could be resurrected, saying the changes needed to eliminate the risk might be delivered in the future.
Legal experts cast doubt on whether a new treaty would be enough to satisfy any future legal challenges.
“You would have to have Rwanda promising to fix all these things, but even that on its own I am not sure, reading the judgment, would be enough to make it safe,” said Gavin Phillipson, a law professor at Bristol University.
The UK ruling will also be examined closely across Europe, where Germany and other governments are looking how to reduce the number of asylum seekers, and the European Union is seeking to overhaul the bloc’s migration rules.
While Sunak’s tough talk might appease some in his party, others were less impressed.
“He is under huge pressure ... I think that there is a panic brewing there,” one Conservative lawmaker, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.


Tesla kicks off robotaxi unveiling amid fanfare and skepticism

Tesla kicks off robotaxi unveiling amid fanfare and skepticism
Updated 6 sec ago
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Tesla kicks off robotaxi unveiling amid fanfare and skepticism

Tesla kicks off robotaxi unveiling amid fanfare and skepticism
  • Investors seek robotaxi production timeline, business plan
  • Progress on humanoid robots, cheaper versions of its EVs awaited

Tesla kicked off its much-hyped event late Thursday to unveil its long-promised robotaxi and update investors on artificial intelligence projects, efforts CEO Elon Musk has bet will drive the electric vehicle maker’s long-term growth.
Enthusiasm around the event has been on display across social media, with screenshots of invites and speculation on what might be disclosed. But investors and analysts have flagged challenges with the technology and reined in expectations.
Social media posts from attendees showed a festive vibe at the venue with crowds, lights and a huge stage. “We constructed a futuristic world,” Musk said on social media platform X in response to an attendee’s post with shots of a pamphlet with information on the event.
Stellantis chairperson John Elkann was seen in the crowd along with Musk’s younger brother, Kimbal, a social media post showed.
Musk’s plan is to operate a fleet of self-driving Tesla taxis called Cybercabs that passengers can hail through an app. Individual Tesla owners will also be able to make money on the app by listing their vehicles as robotaxis.
Thursday’s event at the Warner Bros studio near Los Angeles, California, is titled “We, Robot” — an apparent nod to the “I, Robot” science-fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, but also echoes Musk’s insistence that Tesla “should be thought of as an AI robotics company” rather than an automaker.
Those attending will include investors, stock analysts and Tesla fans. Topping their list of questions will be how quickly can Tesla ramp up robotaxi production, at what cost, and, crucially, how much money it can make from the taxi business.
Eyes will also be on progress the company has made with the partial automation software it markets as Full Self-Driving that company watchers expect to underpin its robotaxis.
Musk could also give details on cheaper versions of Tesla’s current EVs as well as updates on its humanoid robot Optimus.

Missed promises
Musk said in 2019 he was “very confident” the company would have operational robotaxis by the next year. After missed promises, Musk this year diverted his focus to developing the vehicles after scrapping plans to build a smaller, cheaper car widely seen as essential to countering slowing EV demand.
Tesla is at risk of posting its first-ever decline in deliveries this year as buying incentives have failed to attract enough customers to its aging EV lineup. Steep price cuts meant to offset high interest rates have also squeezed profit margins.
To convince investors that Tesla can keep up the blistering pace of growth it reported several quarters back, analysts said Musk needs to show a prototype and provide detailed plans on how Tesla can overtake rivals such as Alphabet’s Waymo, which operates uncrewed robotaxis ferrying paying passengers in a few US cities.
Complicated technology and tight regulation have led to billion of dollars in loss for other companies attempting to crack the robotaxi market, forcing some to shut shop.
Some are still pushing, including General Motors’ Cruise, Amazon’s Zoox and Chinese firms such as WeRide.
Unlike expensive hardware such as lidar that others use, Musk is relying only on cameras and AI to run FSD to keep costs down. But FSD, which requires constant driver attention, has faced regulatory and legal scrutiny with at least two fatal accidents involving the technology.


Blinken at ASEAN meet condemns China’s ‘increasingly dangerous’ sea moves

Blinken at ASEAN meet condemns China’s ‘increasingly dangerous’ sea moves
Updated 24 min 7 sec ago
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Blinken at ASEAN meet condemns China’s ‘increasingly dangerous’ sea moves

Blinken at ASEAN meet condemns China’s ‘increasingly dangerous’ sea moves
  • Blinken is representing the US at the annual Southeast Asian meeting, where China has heard directly from leaders of concern about the dispute-rife South China Sea
  • The Philippines has been alarmed by violent incidents as Beijing exerts its claims in the strategic waterway.

VIENTIANE, Laos: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Beijing’s “increasingly dangerous” actions in the South China Sea and voiced support for freedom of navigation as he met leaders of the ASEAN bloc on Friday.
“We remain concerned about China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful actions on the South and East China Seas, which have injured people, harmed vessels from ASEAN nations and contradict commitments to peaceful resolution of disputes,” Blinken told Southeast Asian leaders gathered in Laos.
“The United States will continue to support freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, back right, takes part in the 12th ASEAN-US Summit in Vientiane on  Oct. 11, 2024. (Pool Photo via AP)

Blinken said that the United States also hoped to work with ASEAN leaders to “protect stability across the Taiwan Strait,” where tension has risen again as China this week denounced remarks by the self-governing democracy’s president.

Blinken is representing the United States at the annual Southeast Asian meeting, where China has heard directly from leaders of concern about the dispute-rife South China Sea.
The Philippines has been alarmed by violent incidents as Beijing exerts its claims in the strategic waterway.
 

Another prominent theme at the summit is Myanmar, whose military junta sent a representative to the ASEAN meeting for the first time in more than three years. Myanmar’s delegation joined the meeting with Blinken but it was unclear if there was any direct interaction.
Blinken said he wanted to discuss the “deepening crisis in Myanmar” — a rare US usage of the country’s official name and not the former Burma.
Blinken also urged firmness against Russia’s “war of aggression” in Ukraine, ahead of a full East Asia Summit in which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will participate.
 


Gunmen kill 20 miners and wound others in an attack in southwest Pakistan

Gunmen kill 20 miners and wound others in an attack in southwest Pakistan
Updated 22 min 17 sec ago
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Gunmen kill 20 miners and wound others in an attack in southwest Pakistan

Gunmen kill 20 miners and wound others in an attack in southwest Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan: Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday.
It’s the latest attack in restive Balochistan province and comes days ahead of a major security summit being hosted in the capital.
Police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said the gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki district late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire.
Most of the men were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan.
Nobody claimed immediate responsibility for the attack.
The province is home to separatist groups who want independence. They accuse the federal government in Islamabad of unfairly exploiting oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of locals.
On Monday, a group called the Baloch Liberation Army said it carried out an attack on Chinese nationals outside Pakistan’s biggest airport. There are thousands of Chinese working in the country, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.
The explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also raised questions about the ability of Pakistani forces to protect high-profile events or foreigners in the country.
Islamabad is hosting a summit next week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping founded by China and Russia to counter Western alliances.


Trump raises eyebrows with Democratic state blitz

Trump raises eyebrows with Democratic state blitz
Updated 11 October 2024
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Trump raises eyebrows with Democratic state blitz

Trump raises eyebrows with Democratic state blitz
  • For Kronus Communications founder Adrienne Uthe, the sorties into Democratic territory are about nationwide optics and messaging, rather than a simple grab for local votes
  • For Jeb Bush's former communications chief Tim Miller, people in swing states are tired of the Trump “shtick” so he needs to go to red areas of blue states to get the crowd size that he needs

WASHINGTON: Spend any time in a swing state in the closing weeks of a US election and it’s hard to avoid the barrage of rallies, TV interviews and attack ads as candidates grasp for those final few undecided voters.
So when Republican nominee Donald Trump announced an expansion of his campaign map into “deep blue” Democratic real estate that he has virtually no chance of taking, political analysts wondered what he was up to.
Trump, 78, is in Aurora, Colorado on Friday and California’s Coachella Valley on Saturday. Next week he heads to Chicago, Illinois and on October 27 he will appear at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden, home of the NBA’s New York Knicks.
Colorado is the only one of those states to have voted Republican in a presidential election this century. It was the most competitive of the four in 2020, and it was still a cakewalk for Biden, who won by 13 points.
Meanwhile Trump and his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris are neck-and-neck in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada — where a few thousand wavering voters could determine who gets the White House.
So why put in time that takes you away from the Americans who do the hiring and firing less than four weeks before November 5?
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment but aides have pointed to a strategy of wooing voters in areas they say are hurt by failed Democratic policies.

Optics and symbolism

For Adrienne Uthe, the founder of Utah-based PR firm Kronus Communications, the sorties into Democratic territory are about nationwide optics and messaging, rather than a simple grab for local votes.
“He’s not there to flip these states, he’s there to fuel the narrative of a ‘national movement’ and energize his base where they feel like underdogs,” she told AFP.
“Rallying in traditionally Democratic areas gives his supporters the thrill of ‘enemy territory,’ while allowing Trump to frame his campaign as transcending party lines.”
Andrew Koneschusky, a political communications expert and former press secretary to Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, agreed that Trump’s strategists were thinking about “optics, symbolism and ego” rather than electoral math.
Trump has pushed exaggerated stories of migrant gangs running rampant in Aurora, and his aim in visiting is to transform the city into a “national battleground” on immigration, says the consultant.
Coachella, a three-hour drive from Mexico, offers the same opportunity and has the added advantage of looking like a bold, aggressive throw of the gauntlet in Harris’s home state.
“New York is a real head-scratcher,” Koneschusky told AFP. “But this choice may be a product of Trump’s ego. He likely wants to orchestrate a spectacle at Madison Square Garden and demonstrate he can fill a 20,000-seat arena in a Democratic bastion.”
Trump’s obsession with his crowd sizes, in fact, is being offered by some Washington-watchers as the whole explanation for his idiosyncratic campaign strategy.

Tired of Trump “shtick”
The ex-president has reacted badly to Harris’s packed rallies, inventing multiple conspiracy theories to dismiss them as fake, and his sensitivity has been mocked on the late night talk show circuit — and by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
In a moment that defined September’s presidential debate, the mercurial tycoon allowed himself to get riled by Harris claiming his rally speeches were so boring that his supporters were getting up and leaving before the end.
Images of empty seating even at the start of his rallies have been shared widely on social media, including footage of an event in Pennsylvania on Wednesday that showed large sections of the arena unfilled as Trump took the stage.
Tim Miller, who was communications director for Jeb Bush when he ran against Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, believes people in swing states are tired of the Trump “shtick.”
“And so he needs to go to these red areas of blue states — or deep red states where people haven’t seen him — so that he can get the crowd size that he needs,” said Miller on center-right outlet The Bulwark’s podcast, which he hosts.
But Koneschusky, Schumer’s former aide, says the nationwide focus is unlikely to sway voters in battleground states.
“He’d probably be better served to take up residence in Pennsylvania,” he told AFP. “In the end, it’s electoral math, not spectacle and theatrics, that usually determines the outcome of the election.”


Africans recruited to work in Russia say they were duped into building drones for use in Ukraine

Africans recruited to work in Russia say they were duped into building drones for use in Ukraine
Updated 11 October 2024
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Africans recruited to work in Russia say they were duped into building drones for use in Ukraine

Africans recruited to work in Russia say they were duped into building drones for use in Ukraine
  • Lured to play a computer game with a faraway adventure in Europe as prize, dozens of young women from Africa and Sri Lanka end up being forced to work in a combat drone factory in Russia's Tatarstan region
  • With unemployment at record lows and many Russians already working in military industries, fighting in Ukraine or having fled abroad, plant officials turned to using vocational students and cheap foreign labor

The social media ads promised the young African women a free plane ticket, money and a faraway adventure in Europe. Just complete a computer game and a 100-word Russian vocabulary test.
But instead of a work-study program in fields like hospitality and catering, some of them learned only after arriving on the steppes of Russia’s Tatarstan region that they would be toiling in a factory to make weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones to be launched into Ukraine.
In interviews with The Associated Press, some of the women complained of long hours under constant surveillance, of broken promises about wages and areas of study, and of working with caustic chemicals that left their skin pockmarked and itching.
To fill an urgent labor shortage in wartime Russia, the Kremlin has been recruiting women aged 18-22 from places like Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, as well as the South Asian country of Sri Lanka. The drive is expanding to elsewhere in Asia as well as Latin America.
That has put some of Moscow’s key weapons production in the inexperienced hands of about 200 African women who are working alongside Russian vocational students as young as 16 in the plant in Tatarstan’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) east of Moscow, according to an AP investigation of the industrial complex.

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows buildings in Tatarstan's Alabuga Special Economic Zone, about 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow on Nov. 21, 2021, before President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

“I don’t really know how to make drones,” said one African woman who had abandoned a job at home and took the Russian offer.
The AP analyzed satellite images of the complex and its internal documents, spoke to a half-dozen African women who ended up there, and tracked down hundreds of videos in the online recruiting program dubbed “Alabuga Start” to piece together life at the plant.
A hopeful journey from Africa leads to ‘a trap’
The woman who agreed to work in Russia excitedly documented her journey, taking selfies at the airport and shooting video of her airline meal and of the in-flight map, focusing on the word “Europe” and pointing to it with her long, manicured nails.
When she arrived in Alabuga, however, she soon learned what she would be doing and realized it was “a trap.”
“The company is all about making drones. Nothing else,” said the woman, who assembled airframes. “I regret and I curse the day I started making all those things.”
One possible clue about what was in store for the applicants was their vocabulary test that included words like “factory” and the verbs “to hook” and “to unhook.”
The workers were under constant surveillance in their dorms and at work, the hours were long and the pay was less than she expected — details corroborated by three other women interviewed by AP, which is not identifying them by name or nationality out of concern for their safety.
Factory management apparently tries to discourage the African women from leaving, and although some reportedly have left or found work elsewhere in Russia, AP was unable to verify that independently.
A drone factory grows in Tatarstan
Russia and Iran signed a $1.7 billion deal in 2022, after President Vladimir Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine, and Moscow began using Iranian imports of the unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, in battle later that year.
The Alabuga Special Economic Zone was set up in 2006 to attract businesses and investment to Tatarstan. It expanded rapidly after the invasion and parts switched to military production, adding or renovating new buildings, according to satellite images.
Although some private companies still operate there, the plant is referred to as “Alabuga” in leaked documents that detail contracts between Russia and Iran.
The Shahed-136 drones were first shipped disassembled to Russia, but production has shifted to Alabuga and possibly another factory. Alabuga now is Russia’s main plant for making the one-way, exploding drones, with plans to produce 6,000 of them a year by 2025, according to the leaked documents and the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.

An Iranian Shahed exploding drone launched by Russia flies through the sky seconds before it struck buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP)

That target is now ahead of schedule, with Alabuga building 4,500, said David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector who works at the institute.
Finding workers was a problem. With unemployment at record lows and many Russians already working in military industries, fighting in Ukraine or having fled abroad, plant officials turned to using vocational students and cheap foreign labor.
Alabuga is the only Russian production facility that recruits women from Africa, Asia and South America to make weapons according to experts and the AP investigation.
About 90 percent of the foreign women recruited via the Alabuga Start program work on making drones, particularly the parts “that don’t require much skill,” he said.
Documents leaked last year and verified by Albright and another drone expert detail the workforce growing from just under 900 people in 2023 to plans for over 2,600 in 2025. They show that foreign women largely assemble the drones, use chemicals and paint them.
In the first half of this year, 182 women were recruited, largely from Central and East African countries, according to a Facebook page promoting the Alabuga Start program. It also recruits in South America and Asia “to help ladies to start their career.”
Officials held recruiting events in Uganda, and tried to recruit from its orphanages, according to messages on Alabuga’s Telegram channel. Russian officials have also visited more than 26 embassies in Moscow to push the program.
The campaign gave no reasons why it doesn’t seek older women or men, but some analysts suggest officials could believe young women are easier to control. One of the leaked documents shows the assembly lines are segregated and uses a derogatory term referring to the African workers.
The factory also draws workers from Alabuga Polytechnic, a nearby vocational boarding school for Russians age 16-18 and Central Asians age 18-22 that bills its graduates as experts in drone production. According to investigative outlets Protokol and Razvorot, some are as young as 15 and have complained of poor working conditions.
Surveillance, caustic chemicals — and a Ukrainian attack
The foreign workers travel by bus from their living quarters to the factory, passing multiple security checkpoints after a license plate scan, while other vehicles are stopped for more stringent checks, according to the woman who assembles drones.
They share dormitories and kitchens that are “guarded around the clock,” social media posts say. Entry is controlled via facial recognition, and recruits are watched on surveillance cameras. Pets, alcohol and drugs are not allowed.
The foreigners receive local SIM cards for their phones upon arrival but are forbidden from bringing them into the factory, which is considered a sensitive military site.
One woman said she could only talk to an AP reporter with her manager’s permission, another said her “messages are monitored,” a third said workers are told not to talk to outsiders about their work, and a fourth said managers encouraged them to inform on co-workers.
The airframe worker told AP the recruits are taught how to assemble the drones and coat them with a caustic substance with the consistency of yogurt.
Many workers lack protective gear, she said, adding that the chemicals made her face feel like it was being pricked with tiny needles, and “small holes” appeared on her cheeks, making them itch severely.
“My God, I could scratch myself! I could never get tired of scratching myself,” she said.
“A lot of girls are suffering,” she added. A video shared with AP showed another woman wearing an Alabuga uniform with her face similarly affected.
Although AP could not determine what the chemicals were, drone expert Fabian Hinz of the International Institute for Strategic Studies confirmed that caustic substances are used in their manufacture.
In addition to dangers from chemicals, the complex itself was hit by a Ukrainian drone in April, injuring at least 12 people. A video it posted on social media showed a Kenyan woman calling the attackers “barbarians” who “wanted to intimidate us.”
“They did not succeed,” she said.
Workers ‘maltreated like donkeys’
Although one woman said she loved working at Alabuga because she was well-paid and enjoyed meeting new people and experiencing a different culture, most interviewed by AP disagreed about the size of the compensation and suggested that life there did not meet their expectations.
The program initially promised recruits $700 a month, but later social media posts put it at “over $500.”
The airframe assembly worker said the cost of their accommodation, airfare, medical care and Russian-language classes were deducted from her salary, and she struggled to pay for basics like bus fare with the remainder.
The African women are “maltreated like donkeys, being slaved,” she said, indicating banking sanctions on Russia made it difficult to send money home. But another factory worker said she was able to send up to $150 a month to her family.
Four of the women described long shifts of up to 12 hours, with haphazard days off. Still, two of these who said they worked in the kitchen added they were willing to tolerate the pay if they could support their families.
The wages apparently are affecting morale, according to plant documents, with managers urging that the foreign workers be replaced with Russian-speaking staff because “candidates are refusing the low salary.”
Russian and Central Asian students at Alabuga Polytechnic are allowed visits home, social media posts suggest. Independent Russian media reported that these vocational students who want to quit the program have been told they must repay tuition costs.
AP contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry and the offices of Tatarstan Gov. Rustam Minnikhanov and Alabuga Special Economic Zone Director General Timur Shagivaleev for a response to the women’s complaints but received no reply.
Human rights organizations contacted by AP said they were unaware of what was happening at the factory, although it sounded consistent with other actions by Russia. Human Rights Watch said Russia is actively recruiting foreigners from Africa and India to support its war in Ukraine by promising lucrative jobs without fully explaining the nature of the work.
Russia’s actions “could potentially fulfill the criteria of trafficking if the recruitment is fraudulent and the purpose is exploitation,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, noting that Moscow is a party to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.
The AP contacted governments of 22 countries whose citizens Alabuga said it had recruited for the program. Most didn’t answer or said they would look into it.
Betty Amongi, Uganda’s Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, told AP that her ministry raised concerns with its embassy in Moscow about the Alabuga recruiting effort, particularly over the age of the women, because “female migrant workers are the most vulnerable category.”
The ministry said it wanted to ensure the women “do not end up in exploitative employment,” and needed to know who would be responsible for the welfare of the Ugandan women while in Russia. Alabuga’s Facebook page said 46 Ugandan women were at the complex, although Amongi had said there were none.
How accurate are the drones?

Bolstered by the foreign recruits, Russia has vastly increased the number of drones it can fire at Ukraine.
Nearly 4,000 were launched at Ukraine from the start of the war in February 2022 through 2023, Albright’s organization said. In the first seven months of this year, Russia launched nearly twice that.
Although the Alabuga plant’s production target is ahead of schedule, there are questions about the quality of the drones and whether manufacturing problems due to the unskilled labor force are causing malfunctions. Some experts also point to Russia’s switching to other materials from the original Iranian design as a sign of problems.
An AP analysis of about 2,000 Shahed attacks documented by Ukraine’s military since July 29 shows that about 95 percent of the drones hit no discernible target. Instead, they fall into Ukraine’s rivers and fields, stray into NATO-member Latvia and come down in Russia or ally Belarus.
Before July, about 14 percent of Shaheds hit their targets in Ukraine, according to data analyzed by Albright’s team.
The large failure rate could be due to Ukraine’s improved air defenses, although Albright said it also could be because of the low-skilled workforce in which “poor craftsmanship is seeping in,” he said.
Another factor could be because Russia is using a Shahed variant that doesn’t carry a warhead of 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives. Moscow could be launching these dummy drones to overwhelm air defenses and force Ukraine to waste ammunition, allowing other UAVs to hit targets.
Tourism, paintball games and a pitch on TikTok
The Alabuga Start recruiting drive relies on a robust social media campaign of slickly edited videos with upbeat music that show African women visiting Tatarstan’s cultural sites or playing sports.
The videos show them working — smiling while cleaning floors, wearing hard hats while directing cranes, and donning protective equipment to apply paint or chemicals.
One video depicts the Polytechnic school students in team-building exercises such as paintball matches, even showing the losing side — labeled as “fascists” — digging trenches or being shot with the recreational weapons at close range.
“We are taught patriotism. This unites us. We are ready to repel any provocation,” one student says.
The videos on Alabuga’s social media pages don’t mention the plant’s role at the heart of Russian drone production, but the Special Economic Zone is more open with Russian media.
Konstantin Spiridonov, deputy director of a company that made drones for civilian use before the war, gave a video tour of an Alabuga assembly line in March to a Russian blogger. Pointing out young African women, he did not explicitly link the drones to the war but noted their production is now “very relevant” for Russia.
Alabuga Start’s social media pages are filled with comments from Africans begging for work and saying they applied but have yet to receive an answer.
The program was promoted by education ministries in Uganda and Ethiopia, as well as in African media that portrays it as a way to make money and learn new skills.
Initially advertised as a work-study program, Alabuga Start in recent months is more direct about what it offers foreigners, insisting on newer posts that “is NOT an educational program,” although one of them still shows young women in plaid school uniforms.
When Sierra Leone Ambassador Mohamed Yongawo visited in May and met with five participants from his country, he appeared to believe it was a study program.
“It would be great if we had 30 students from Sierra Leone studying at Alabuga,” he said afterward.
Last month, the Alabuga Start social media site said it was “excited to announce that our audience has grown significantly!”
That could be due to its hiring of influencers, including Bassie, a South African with almost 800,000 TikTok and Instagram followers. She did not respond to an AP request for comment.
The program, she said, was an easy way to make money, encouraging followers to share her post with job-seeking friends so they could contact Alabuga.
“Where they lack in labor,” she said, “that’s where you come in.”