African students studying in Russia are under pressure, Russian officials are asking them to go to Ukraine to fight for Putin and are threatened to cancel scholarships and raise tuition fees.
"Daily Beast" report. Three students from the Southern Federal University of Russia (SFedU) in Rostov-on-Don (which is close to the Ukrainian border) told Daily Beast that Russian officials at the university have been pressured to join Putin's troops to fight in eastern Ukraine.
SFedU officials tried to convince them to accept offers from the Russian army or the Wagner Group private military company, claiming that both were willing to pay up to $3,000 and $5,000 respectively to foreigners willing to go to war in Ukraine.
students said some school officials warned them that the Russian government might deprive them of certain privileges, including increasing tuition fees and canceling scholarships for some international students if they did not accept the offer.
"Three of them (officials of the school) have been meeting us in our dormitory and are working hard to convince us to fight for Russia." A student from Nigeria told Daily Beast. "They said we could fight in Ukraine, make a lot of money, and then go back to Russia to continue studying."
A Senegal student who once vowed to never participate in the war said: "Where we [African students] go, there are people trying to convince us to go to Ukraine to fight."
