Several high-profile South African influencers – most notably Cyan Boujee, alongside Peachy Sprinkles, Ghost Hlubi, Seemah, and Zillewizzy – have recently promoted the Russian “Alabuga Start programme, a two-year work-study initiative.”

Their social posts, which they later deleted following a public backlash, touted the programme as offering job and educational opportunities in Russia’s Tatarstan region

But serious concerns have emerged. The programme reportedly lured hundreds of young African women under false pretences to work in Russian factories producing military drones—not in hospitality or technical training, as advertised..

So we tried to go straight to the source. We reached out to Russia’s Alabuga Start programme, we called their Marketing and PR Department, HR, the Project Office, the CEO’s reception. Some hung up the moment we said we were from South Africa, others quickly pushed us to HR and cut the call short.

Out of all the departments we reached out to at Alabuga — only one picked up the phone for a moment: the Investor Relations Department. They spoke briefly, Even though they claimed to not know much about the finer details of the programme as they work ina  different department…

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