Moscow's embassy calls the Accra boards a provocation and says Ghanaians will not serve in Russia's army on contract.

Published 6 Nov 2026, 13:26 GMTUpdated 6 Nov 2026, 13:41 GMT

4 min read

A billboard in Accra reading "Husband, father, son. Not Russia's soldier. We will help him return home" — One of the anti-recruitment billboards in Accra

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The Russian Embassy in Ghana says billboards in Accra warning against recruitment into Russia's army are Ukrainian state propaganda.

In a statement on Thursday, November 5, the mission said boards put up in late October carried the slogans "I want to live" and "I want to find".

President John Dramani Mahama met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, October 30. The next day, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said those talks produced a ban on Ghanaians fighting in the war.

The embassy said the website behind the boards, StopRussianRecruiters.org, "was created and is managed by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine."

"This is not a humanitarian project, but a direct instrument of Ukrainian state propaganda, deliberately used to discredit Russia on the African continent," the statement said.

What the embassy denies

"The claims disseminated by this organisation, alleging that Russia is supposedly luring Africans, including Ghanaian citizens, into contract service by deceptive means, are blatant lies," it said.

"The Russian side has never used, nor does it use, deceptive schemes to recruit foreign nationals into military service. No convincing and verifiable evidence to the contrary has been presented by any authoritative international body."

"At the meeting in Moscow, the Russian side unequivocally confirmed at the highest level that Ghanaian citizens would not serve in Russia on a contractual basis."

The embassy called boards that remain on Accra's streets a "belated and malicious provocation" against relations with Ghana.

That assurance is narrower than the ban Ablakwa described. He wrote that the policy applies "to all circumstances, whether through irregular recruitments or expression of voluntary interests."

The Kremlin's transcript of the opening remarks on October 30 does not mention recruitment. Until this statement, Moscow had not commented in public on Ablakwa's account.

The embassy said Ukraine was advertising military jobs for foreigners in the Ghanaian press, and pointed to an October 8 article on a Ghanaian news website.

It said the article listed nine vacancies, including platoon commander and a drone operator, and that its security agencies count more than 20,000 foreigners fighting for Ukraine.

What the boards offer

StopRussianRecruiters.org says it records recruitment into Russia's armed forces. It claims more than 45,000 foreigners from over 151 countries have joined, and that more than 5,000 have been killed.

The Accra boards warn that a job offer for Russia can end in the army. "I Want to Find" is for families who have lost contact, and "I Want to Live" offers a route out.

The project posted photos of the boards in Accra on November 2.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had published no reply by Friday afternoon, and no statement from a Ukrainian embassy was found.

The "I Want to Live" project replied on Friday. It asked why Russia would stop taking Ghanaians if the contracts had been voluntary.

It asked what had happened to 335 Ghanaians it says signed Russian contracts, 85 it says were killed, and three it says are prisoners in Ukraine. Ghana has not confirmed those numbers.

A UN commission of inquiry told the General Assembly, in a report dated October 19, that it had evidence nationals of 29 countries, including Ghana, were recruited into Russia's forces through deception or coercion.

The men were offered civilian jobs and then made to sign contracts with Russia's defence ministry, the commission wrote. It found no deception or coercion in Ukraine's recruitment of foreigners.

Ghana's own toll

When Ablakwa visited Kyiv in February, Ukrainian intelligence said 272 Ghanaians had been involved since 2022, with 55 killed and two held as prisoners of war.

No newer official Ghanaian toll has been published. Ablakwa's October 31 statement did not say what would happen to Ghanaians already serving.

Araba IncoomAraba Incoom writes on multiple topics with a vast knowledge across different sector. You can almost call me an AI, after all, my initials are Araba Incoom.

Accra recruitment billboards are Ukrainian propaganda – Russian Embassy

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