Russia’s Slavery Crisis: Exploitation, Corruption, and the Military Pipeline
Russia faces a deepening human rights catastrophe:
1.9 million people are trapped in modern slavery, by absolute numbers, the eighth-worst globally, according to the Global Slavery Index.
This places Russia alongside pariah states like North Korea in terms of prevalence—13 victims per 1,000 people—and reveals a disturbing trend of state dysfunction, corruption, and militarized exploitation. The primary drivers of this crisis include widespread corruption, weak law enforcement, and tacit government complicity. Modern slavery flourishes in rural areas and small towns, where police collusion with traffickers is not the exception, but the norm.
Slavery for Sale: The Business of Human Lives
Recruiters—many of them working hand-in-glove with local officials—earn 15,000 to 20,000 rubles (roughly $186–$248) per person, with that figure rising to 30,000 rubles ($372) for individuals with skills such as mechanics or drivers.
Victims are typically trafficked into forced labor in isolated agricultural sites or underground factories. In the worst cases, they are physically confined and drugged to suppress resistance.
Alternativa, a Russian volunteer group combating modern slavery, reports that entire villages are complicit, either through silence or direct participation.
Women, meanwhile, are often trafficked into sexual slavery
Survivors recount beatings, starvation, and repeated rape. The use of alcohol and barbiturates to control victims is disturbingly common, particularly among male labor slaves.
Despite ratifying various international agreements against human trafficking, the Russian state has prosecuted only 53 cases in the last 15 years, according to a report by Novaya Gazeta. Russia ranks at the bottom of European nations in terms of anti-slavery enforcement.
Corruption: The Engine of Slavery
A Wikipedia report on corruption in Russia highlights that law enforcement remains the most corrupt sector in the country.
In 2017, the Prosecutor General’s Office admitted that 11.2% of corruption cases involved either police or parliamentarians. Investigations are often derailed by bribery, threats, or the destruction of evidence. In many cases, police officers are directly involved in trafficking rings, tipping off recruiters about inspections or even delivering victims themselves.
This has created a situation in which survivors are too afraid to testify, and convictions are virtually unheard of.
The state, rather than combating slavery, appears to enable it—either passively through incompetence or actively through financial incentives.
Slavery Meets the Draft: Selling Victims to the Army
Russia’s war in Ukraine has added a new and grotesque dimension to this crisis.
As a result, human traffickers have begun selling enslaved individuals directly to military offices, where they are forced—often while intoxicated—to sign contracts they don’t understand.
Some are tricked into signing over their bank accounts or property, which are then looted by scammers. Payments meant for soldiers are routinely stolen, with troops frequently complaining of being unpaid.
Alternativa’s co-founder Zahir Ismailov reports that some forced recruits die within days or weeks, often never even realizing they were conscripted. The Russian army, in effect, has become both a consumer and a participant in modern slavery.
Real Lives, Real Victims
The individual stories are heartbreaking.
Andrey, a man with cognitive disabilities from Penza, was promised a 300,000-ruble ($3,721) salary. Instead, he was sold to a farm in Samara, resold to a military enlistment office, and subjected to beatings before managing to escape.
Ivan, another man from the Volga region, was rescued from a workhouse in Syrzan after being told he was “already sold” to the army.
A Crisis Without a Strategy
As Russia deepens its war in Ukraine and the government continues to militarize civilian life, the problem of slavery is unlikely to improve. In fact, armed conflict exacerbates trafficking.
The Kremlin’s obsession with military manpower has opened the door for slave traders to sell human beings to the state itself — turning Russia into one of the few modern nations where slavery and military service intersect in open daylight.
