{"id":1294111,"date":"2026-01-24T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T15:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/?p=1294111"},"modified":"2026-01-24T13:17:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:17:54","slug":"russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Russia has intensified the activity of so-called <strong>\u201cRussian Houses\u201d<\/strong> in African countries, using them not only as centers for promoting Russian influence under the guise of cultural diplomacy, but also as hubs for recruiting mercenaries to fight against Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UATV English<\/a>, this was reported on Facebook by Ukraine\u2019s <strong>Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD)<\/strong> under the National Security and Defense Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nigerian media note that \u201cRussian Houses\u201d have become part of a shadow infrastructure fueling the war against Ukraine through ideological manipulation and deception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Russian propaganda presents these institutions as organizations promoting Russian language and culture across Africa. In reality, the CCD says, these structures \u2014 established by the state-run agency <strong>Rossotrudnichestvo<\/strong> \u2014 are actively engaged in destructive activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey justify Russia\u2019s aggressive policies, expand Russian influence, promote hatred toward the West, and spread a distorted picture of reality among local populations,\u201d the CCD stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Center emphasized that such activities demonstrate how Russia exploits cultural platforms abroad as tools of <strong>hybrid warfare<\/strong>, combining propaganda, influence operations, and direct recruitment for its military campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier, the CCD also reported that migrant women from Central Asia imprisoned in Russia are being offered \u201cfreedom\u201d in exchange for deployment to the combat zone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russia has intensified the activity of so-called \u201cRussian Houses\u201d in African countries, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":1294113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,49,36418,36415],"tags":[78],"sources":[],"class_list":["post-1294111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-en","category-11473-news-en-2","category-11473-news-en","tag-homepage-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD - Freedom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD - Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russia has intensified the activity of so-called \u201cRussian Houses\u201d in African countries, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-24T15:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16-820x473.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9\"},\"headline\":\"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-24T15:03:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/\"},\"wordCount\":214,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438\",\"News\",\"Economics\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/\",\"name\":\"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD - Freedom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-24T15:03:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":738,\"caption\":\"Illustrative photo: gettyimages.com\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Freedom\",\"description\":\"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9\",\"name\":\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e\"},\"description\":\"+380\u00a095\u00a0790\u00a05215\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/author\/a-shramchenko\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD - Freedom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD - Freedom","og_description":"Russia has intensified the activity of so-called \u201cRussian Houses\u201d in African countries, ...","og_url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/","og_site_name":"Freedom","article_published_time":"2026-01-24T15:03:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":820,"height":473,"url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16-820x473.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/"},"author":{"name":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9"},"headline":"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD","datePublished":"2026-01-24T15:03:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/"},"wordCount":214,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg","keywords":["\u041d\u0430 \u0433\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0443\u044e (\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u0440)"],"articleSection":["\u041d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438","News","Economics","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/","name":"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD - Freedom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-24T15:03:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4-16.jpg","width":1280,"height":738,"caption":"Illustrative photo: gettyimages.com"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-recruits-mercenaries-in-africa-for-war-against-ukraine-via-russian-houses-ccd\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Russia Recruits Mercenaries in Africa for War Against Ukraine via \u201cRussian Houses\u201d \u2014 CCD"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/","name":"Freedom","description":"UATV - UA|TV - International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ec05b64cb7957f2edee871ad21ea2da9","name":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be326f54daaee9c2bb89c856737d446b181089aaf44371b44076fd3e4f1908de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u0428\u0440\u0430\u043c\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e"},"description":"+380\u00a095\u00a0790\u00a05215","url":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/author\/a-shramchenko\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1294111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1294114,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294111\/revisions\/1294114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1294113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1294111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1294111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1294111"},{"taxonomy":"sources","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sources?post=1294111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}