[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8718 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8718
To impose sanctions on foreign persons and foreign governments
participating in or facilitating the recruitment of foreign nationals
from African countries for the purpose of fighting in the war in
Ukraine.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 7, 2026
Mr. Wilson of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. Jackson of Illinois)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial
Services, the Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose sanctions on foreign persons and foreign governments
participating in or facilitating the recruitment of foreign nationals
from African countries for the purpose of fighting in the war in
Ukraine.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Countering Russia's Forced
Recruitment and Kidnapping in Africa Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Russian-backed entities are working to recruit civilian
and military personnel across the African continent to
participate in Russia's illegal war against Ukraine.
(2) The Ukrainian Government has reported that more than
1,400 citizens from 36 countries across Africa are fighting
alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
(3) Africans sent to the conflict are often forced to take
the most dangerous combat roles in the most dangerous areas of
the conflict because Russians believe their lives are less
valuable. Videos from the conflict show African recruits with
landmines strapped to their chest and ordered by Russian
soldiers to fight or die. Africans are regularly referred to as
``expendable'' and ``cannon fodder'' by Russians in the
conflict areas.
(4) The daughter of former South African president Jacob
Zuma, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, has been accused in multiple
lawsuits of luring 17 South Africans and two Botswanan men to
Russia by telling them they would be training as bodyguards for
her father's political party or attending a personal
development course.
(5) Accounts of recruitment in South Africa highlight that
victims are regularly misled under false pretenses. When they
arrive in Russia, their clothes and passports are often burned,
and their phones are taken away. If a contract was presented
upon recruitment, it is often switched for one written in
Russian with the express intent of exploiting the victim for
their service or labor.
(6) Other cases reveal that victims believed they were
travelling to Moscow for advanced military training but were
instead sent to fight on the front lines in Ukraine.
(7) A group of more than twenty Kenyan men were rescued
from a suspected human trafficking ring in September 2025
following a raid on a residential complex in Nairobi. The men
had reportedly been promised jobs in Russia but were set to be
sent to fight in Ukraine.
(8) Evan Kibet, a Kenyan long-distance runner, reports a
sports agent offered to fly him and three other Kenyans to St.
Petersburg for races. There, he was told to sign work papers in
Russian, and told if he did not sign, he would be killed. He
was then sent to a military camp.
(9) Kenya's foreign ministry has described ``ruthless''
Kremlin-linked recruiters tricking young men to join the war
with false job promises. According to the Kenyan Foreign
Minister, agents masquerade as working with the Russian
government and use unscrupulous methods including falsified
information to lure innocent Kenyans into the battlefield.
(10) In September 2025, Kenyan authorities arrested a
Russian Embassy employee in Nairobi and a Kenyan accomplice,
accused of recruiting local men as mercenaries to fight for
Russia.
(11) In addition, using local networks of recruiters,
Russia has also directly recruited numerous Cameroonian
soldiers, with estimates that 65 Cameroonians had been killed
in the war.
(12) According to Ukrainian media, Ukrainian forces
captured two Cameroonian nationals that claimed they had come
to Russia to work--one ``to make shampoo'' and the other ``to
fix teeth''--before they were instead sent to fight for Russia.
(13) African women have been lured to the Alabuga Special
Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia through a
recruitment scheme targeting 18-to-22-year-old women promising
participants professional training in logistics, catering, and
hospitality. Instead, these women are subject to hazardous
factory condition and used to build drones. By some estimates
more than 1,000 women have been recruited from across Africa to
work in Alabuga's weapons factories.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) Russia's illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine has
strained the Russian military, generating a need for additional
personnel to supplement the ranks of Russia's armed forces and
leading to the deceptive and coerced recruitment of Africans;
(2) abduction and forced recruitment of African nationals
to support the Russian war machine in Ukraine likely
constitutes human rights violations; and
(3) it is unacceptable that some African government
officials have knowingly participated in or benefited from
these recruitment operations at the expense of their citizens.
SEC. 4. LIST.
(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall create a list of
foreign persons and foreign governments participating in or
facilitating the recruitment of nationals from African countries for
the purpose of--
(1) knowingly or unknowingly joining the Russian military
for the purposes of fighting in Ukraine;
(2) knowingly or unknowingly joining Russia-aligned
organizations for the purposes of fighting in Ukraine; or
(3) accepting employment under false pretenses or as
volunteer work that supports the Russian war effort against
Ukraine.
(b) Protection of Victims.--Individuals who are determined to be
victims of fraud, coercion, or deception in connection with the
activities described in subsection (a) shall not be included on the
list established under that subsection.
SEC. 5. SANCTIONS REQUIRED.
(a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after the list required by
section 4 is created by the Secretary of State the President may impose
the sanctions described in paragraphs (1) through (7) of subsection (b)
on each foreign person and foreign government identified on the list.
(b) Sanctions Described.--The sanctions described in this
subsection are the following:
(1) Blocking of property.--The President shall pursuant to
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701
et seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in all property
and interests in property of the foreign person if such
property and interests in property are in the United States,
come within the United States, or are or come within the
possession or control of a United States person.
(2) Export-import bank assistance for exports to sanctioned
persons.--The President shall direct the Export-Import Bank of
the United States not to give approval to the issuance of any
guarantee, insurance, extension of credit, or participation in
the extension of credit in connection with the export of any
goods or services to the foreign person or foreign government.
(3) Loans from united states financial institutions.--The
President shall prohibit any United States financial
institution from making loans or providing credits to the
foreign person or foreign government totaling more than
$10,000,000 in any 12-month period unless the person is
primarily engaged in activities to relieve human suffering and
the loans or credits are provided for such activities.
(4) Loans from international financial institutions.--The
President shall direct the United States executive director to
each international financial institution to use the voice and
vote of the United States to oppose any loan from the
international financial institution that would benefit the
foreign person or foreign government.
(5) Loans from the international development finance
corporation; the united states trade and development agency and
millennium challenge corporation.--The President shall direct
the Chief Executive Officer of the United States International
Development Finance Corporation, the Chief Executive Officer of
the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Director of the
United States Trade and Development Agency to prohibit any
loan, loan guarantee, equity investment, project assistance, or
any other type of support to a listed foreign person or foreign
government.
(6) Procurement sanction.--The United States Government may
not procure, or enter into any contract for the procurement of,
any goods or services from the foreign person or foreign
government.
(7) Exclusion of foreign individuals.--
(A) In general.--The President shall direct the
Secretary of State to deny a visa to, and the Secretary
of Homeland Security to exclude from the United States,
any individual identified in the report required by
subsection (a).
(B) Visas, admission, or parole.--An alien who the
Secretary of State or the Secretary of Homeland
Security (or a designee of one of such Secretaries)
knows, or has reason to believe, is described in
subparagraph (A) is--
(i) inadmissible to the United States;
(ii) ineligible for a visa or other
documentation to enter the United States; and
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted
or paroled into the United States or to receive
any other benefit under the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).
(C) Current visas revoked.--
(i) In general.--The issuing consular
officer, the Secretary of State, or the
Secretary of Homeland Security (or a designee
of one of such Secretaries) shall, in
accordance with section 221(i) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1201(i)), revoke any visa or other entry
documentation issued to an alien described in
subparagraph (A) regardless of when the visa or
other entry documentation is issued.
(ii) Effect of revocation.--A revocation
under clause (i)--
(I) shall take effect immediately;
and
(II) shall automatically cancel any
other valid visa or entry documentation
that is in the alien's possession.
(c) Exceptions.--
(1) Exception to comply with international obligations.--
Sanctions under subsection (b)(7) shall not apply with respect
to the admission of an alien if admitting or paroling the alien
into the United States is necessary to permit the United States
to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the
United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and
entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United
Nations and the United States, or other applicable
international obligations.
(2) Exception relating to the provision of humanitarian
assistance.--Sanctions under this section may not be imposed
with respect to transactions or the facilitation of
transactions for--
(A) the sale of agricultural commodities, food,
medicine, or medical devices;
(B) the provision of humanitarian assistance;
(C) financial transactions relating to humanitarian
assistance; or
(D) transporting goods or services that are
necessary to carry out operations relating to
humanitarian assistance.
(3) Exception for intelligence, law enforcement, and
national security activities.--Sanctions under this section
shall not apply to any authorized intelligence, law
enforcement, or national security activities of the United
States.
(4) Classified information.--In any judicial review of a
determination made under this section, if the determination was
based on classified information (as defined in section 1(a) of
the Classified Information Procedures Act) such information may
be submitted to the reviewing court ex parte and in camera.
This paragraph does not confer or imply any right to judicial
review.
(d) National Interest Waiver.--The President may waive the
imposition of sanctions under subsection (b) with respect to a person
if the President--
(1) determines that such a waiver is vital to the national
interests of the United States; and
(2) not more than 15 days after issuing the waiver, submits
to the appropriate congressional committees a notification of
the waiver and the reasons for the waiver.
SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.
The President may terminate the application of sanctions under this
Act with respect to a person if the President determines and reports to
the appropriate congressional committees not later than 15 days before
the termination of the sanctions that--
(1) credible information exists that the person did not
engage in the activity for which sanctions were imposed;
(2) the person has credibly demonstrated a significant
change in behavior, has paid an appropriate consequence for the
activity for which sanctions were imposed, and has credibly
committed to not engage in an activity described in paragraph
(1) in the future; or
(3) the termination of the sanctions is in the vital
national interests of the United States.
SEC. 7. DEFINED TERM.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs Committee of the House
of Representatives; and
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
SEC. 8. SUNSET.
Any sanctions imposed pursuant to this Act shall terminate on the
date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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