Russia has More Slaves than All But Seven Other Countries, and Moscow is Doing Little to Fight This Plague, International Rights Activists Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 13 – Russia ranks alongside countries like Kuwait and Afghanistan in terms of the number of slaves held within its borders, international rights activists say. But it ranks even worse in terms of the effort of its government to combat this crime, in large part because all too many Russians accept modern forms of slavery as somehow defensible.

            According to anti-slavery activists, the countries most likely to see a growth in the number of slaves are those where basic rights are under attack and where the government is involved in a military action. Russia falls into both (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2023/12/12/v-otlove-rabochikh-uchastvovali-sotrudniki-politsii-i-okhranniki-fermy).

            As a result, unless something radically changes either because of changes at the top of the political system or because of international pressure on Moscow, Russia is likely to face a growing problem with slavery and human trafficking for the next decade or more, these experts say.