NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — At a memorial ceremony in central Kenya in early February, a photograph perched on a chair, with roses placed neatly next to it and candles burning in memory of Charles Waithaka Wangari, a 31-year-old Kenyan who died in the Russian war in Ukraine in December.

Waithaka, a rising soccer player, had traveled to Russia in October to work as a heavy machinery operator at a factory, but had been conscripted into the Russian army and deployed to the front lines soon after he arrived. He was killed by an explosion at the front line, barely two months after arriving in Russia. His family got word of his death on Christmas Day and was told that his remains could not be retrieved due to intense fighting. 

“I plead with the government to bring back my son’s body, so that I can ​​properly bury him. I know if I ​​bury him, I will heal and find inner peace,” Bibiana Wangari, his mother​, told Religion News Service last week. “At the moment, I feel a lot of pain and cannot heal until I see his remains.

According to local news reports, Waithaka’s travel to Russia was facilitated by contacts in Russian Orthodox Church circles, and some human rights organizations are raising questions about the role the church is playing in recruiting other young Kenyans to go to Ukraine.

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Fredrick Odhiambo Ojiro, head of rapid response for Vocal Africa, a pan-African human rights organization​, said Russian church leaders have promoted the prospect of working in Russia among young Kenyans. “They have told the youth the church has now come to provide those opportunities to young men in Russia. They are also using women to speak closely to the individuals, since they are calm and can be trusted more,” said Odhiambo in an interview.

The exact number of Kenyans who have traveled to ​​Russia is not known, but Odhiambo estimated that more than 500 individuals have been there in the past two years, most traveling on temporary tourist visas. Some 200 families ​​have reached out to Vocal Africa​ about their children’s situation.

Before​ ​traveling to Russia, the migrants were promised salaries of 350,000 to 400,000 Kenyan shillings (about $3,000), according to Odhiambo, but many never received the money after their legal documents were confiscated. “They lie to you to use ​the commander’s details to open a bank account. When the money is deposited, they never give it to you. In fact, when money is put in the account, you shall have been taken to the front line,” said Odhiambo.

A Russian Orthodox priest in Nairobi, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak for the church, told Religion News Service that the church sends seminary students to Ukraine to study, not to fight, but said students are often warned that military recruitment can happen.

The priest said the church monitors the students’ status closely. “We can account for all the students that we have sent to study and those we have sent to the seminaries. I don’t think there is something malicious about this,” he said, adding, “None of them joined the military, not even a single one.”

The Russian church had a limited presence in Kenya and Africa until 2021, when it established the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa. The move challenged the traditional canonical jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria over all of the continent. Since then, more than 200 Russian Orthodox parishes have been created in 25 countries.

The Russian church’s expansion into Africa has widened a rift with the Greek Orthodox Church that began with disagreement over Ukraine’s national Orthodox church. In 2018, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, considered the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, recognized the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which had broken from the Russian Orthodox Church’s traditional oversight of Ukraine’s Orthodox Christians. 

Russia vociferously objected to Bartholomew’s support for the UOC, and since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the Russian Patriarch, Kirill, has portrayed the war as a holy cause. The Ukrainian government, meanwhile, has moved to suppress the remnant Russian-aligned church, accusing its priests of spying. 

“Since then, we have had them here, contrary to church canon law,” said the Rev. Evangelos Thiani, a Kenyan Orthodox priest who serves the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. “We still insist that Ukraine should be left to decide its political present and future,” he said.

Thiani said the Russian state has always used the church as a “soft power” and views its establishment of churches in Africa as part of the Kremlin’s push to wield influence there.

According to Paul Adoch, the director of Trace Kenya, a ​countertrafficking organization, some Kenyans find their way to Russia after going to the Middle East. “Individuals who find their way to the Middle East are then encouraged to travel further with the promise of working not within the military itself, but within the security zones within Russia. To that extent, it’s a lie,” he told RNS.

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The Kenyan government, which, according to Adoch, encourages its citizens to work abroad, has promised to shut down rogue recruiting agencies and to urge Russia to sign a ban on the recruitment of Kenyans as soldiers.

Waithaka’s mother urged the government to move quickly to bring back those who are alive and asking to be returned.

“Families are crying out. Please use all means to rescue their sons, so that they can join their families,” she pleaded, adding that some who return from Russia come back with injuries or permanently disabled. “They should be given some compensation and psychosocial support,” she said.