Al Jazeera reported that a Global Rights Compliance investigation found a Russian broker network used student visas to bring North Koreans into Russia and market them to prospective employers, evading U.N. sanctions.
The investigators identified the platform as KNDR.su, operated by Russian businessman Vladimir Sokolov. Its listings covered agriculture, construction, industry and IT. Global Rights Compliance reported commissions of 100,000 to 150,000 rubles ($1,240-$1,860) per placement.
Investigators posing as prospective clients spoke with operations director Ruslan Zhukov. He told them workers were registered at colleges they did not attend to get around Russian labor law, and described 12-hour shifts across six days each week, according to the nonprofit. Global Rights Compliance characterized the recruitment as forced labor.
Al Jazeera said the investigation connected the network to Russia’s war effort, citing Sokolov’s promotion of at least two work sites linked to Moscow’s military-industrial complex. Global Rights Compliance said the wider state-sponsored labor program helps fund Pyongyang’s ballistic missile development.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 2397 set a December 2019 deadline for countries to return North Koreans earning income in their jurisdictions, subject to exceptions. The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) estimated that 15,000 to 30,000 North Koreans worked across Russia at the end of 2025 and that overseas labor generated $450 million to $800 million worldwide that year. EconoTimes previously covered the estimates in its report on North Korean workers in Russia.
Al Jazeera also reported that Russia granted North Koreans more than 36,000 visas in 2025, four times the 2024 tally; almost all were officially classified as educational.
Global Rights Compliance said Zhukov rejected the allegations, calling them “false,” and described the workers as students in an intergovernmental exchange that included practical training. Al Jazeera said it received no reply to comment requests sent to Sokolov’s holding company, Black Horse, or KNDR.su.
Al Jazeera reported that Russia and North Korea ratified a mutual defense treaty in 2024. It also reported that Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.
