BRICS and forced labor: How Russia is exploiting an international economic bloc in its crusade against Ukraine

Excerpt

For some of the world’s poorest people, BRICS — originally Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — is becoming a Trojan horse for Moscow’s war machine. Under the banner of “South-South cooperation,” Russia has turned economic desperation into a recruitment tool and built a model that other authoritarian members could one day replicate at scale. 

In recent years, Russia has targeted poor, marginalized women abroad as low-skill labor for Iranian-designed drone production. Recruiters lure them with promises of education or good jobs, but place them in harsh, dangerous conditions in military facilities vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes. Evidence suggests these programs meet international definitions of human trafficking and forced labor — and BRICS-branded entities have played a recruitment role. 

In May, the South African chapter of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance — whose now-suspended website lauds the alliance’s role in “championing advancement of women in driving economic growth and innovation” — facilitated an agreement to recruit more than 5,600 South Africans for two Russian organizations, Alabuga Special Economic Zone and construction company Etalonstroi Ural. Alabuga Special Economic Zone is now under investigation in South Africa and was sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom for supporting Russian drone procurement. Meanwhile, the BRICS Student Commission signed a separate agreement in January to recruit South African women for a related Alabuga program, Alabuga Start.

Max Meizlish is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Angela Howard is a research analyst.