Russia reportedly targeted South African video gamers as part of a recruitment drive for its war against Ukraine, using the popular gaming communication platform Discord.
Bloomberg, citing documents and people familiar with the case, said the recruitment involved two South African men in their 20s who left the country in July 2024 after communicating with an individual on Discord while playing the military simulation game Arma 3.
Discord has been restricted in Russia since October 2024.
According to email exchanges between diplomats and a friend searching for the men, the discussions centered on joining the Russian military.
The men were frequent Discord users, and a person familiar with their recruitment said they were approached by someone under the username “@Dash.” After meeting in Cape Town, the pair reportedly visited the Russian consulate before traveling to Russia via the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on July 29.
After arriving in Russia, they met “@Dash” in person and signed one-year military contracts near St. Petersburg in early September, the source said.
Within weeks of completing basic training, one of the men was sent to the front line in Ukraine, where he served as an assistant to a grenade launcher operator.
A medical certificate obtained by his family shows he was killed in action on Oct. 23, 2024, in Verkhnekamenskoye, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. He last contacted his family on Oct. 6, and news of his death was relayed to them in December.
The whereabouts of the second man remain unknown.
The recruitment has sparked controversy in South Africa, where fighting for or assisting the armed forces of a foreign country has been illegal since 1998.
In November, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, was allegedly involved in recruiting men from South Africa and Botswana for Russian military service under the guise of a bodyguard training program.
Around the same time, a South African state radio presenter was arrested along with four men on charges related to illegal recruitment, according to Bloomberg. They were released on bail and are due to appear in court on Feb. 10.
According to the source, the two South Africans were promised lucrative military pay, potential Russian citizenship, and access to further education in exchange for their service.
Russia has increasingly relied on foreign recruits to sustain its war effort. Kenya’s foreign minister said in November that up to 200 Kenyan citizens – including a former athlete – were fighting for Russia, with similar reports emerging from countries such as Cameroon and Burkina Faso.
However, Bloomberg noted that recruitment through a gaming communications app appears to be a new tactic.
In mid-November 2025, Ukraine’s ambassador to South Africa, Olexandr Shcherba, warned citizens against being tricked into fighting for Russia.
Shcherba said he was aware of at least 17 South African men who had been “fooled” into joining Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Africa has nothing to do with this war,” he told AFP. “Seeing Africans fighting a colonial war against a free country is especially insane.”
His remarks followed a disclosure by the South African government that it had received distress calls from men trapped on the front lines in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
The men, aged 20 to 39, were reportedly lured by promises of lucrative contracts, though officials did not specify which side they were fighting for.
Kyiv says the men were recruited by Russia. South African outlet News24 reported it had evidence they were sent for bogus “bodyguard training” by the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, founded by former President Jacob Zuma, who maintained close ties with Russia while in office.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an investigation into the claims.
In June, Kyiv troops captured two Cameroon nationals who claimed they initially went to Russia “to make shampoo” and “fix teeth” before being recruited for war.
In September, Kyiv Post visited a Ukrainian prisoner-of-war camp and interviewed Joshua, a Ghanaian student who studied in Moscow before joining the Russian army, and Mohammed Salah from Egypt, who said he was lured by the promise of Russian citizenship.