"I like Russia, its language and culture," Aminata, 20, told DW. She wants to leave her home country of Sierra Leone in a few weeks to pursue an apprenticeship around 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) away in Russia.

Her travel costs will be covered by the Alabuga Start program, named after an industrial area in southwestern Russia, where dormitories are provided for program participants.

Alabuga Start offers female applicants from poorer countries the prospect of a well-paid career.

For most of them, the dream is shattered shortly after their arrival in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ), a large industrial area in the Russian region of Tatarstan.

According to a report published in May by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, many new arrivals find themselves assembling cheap drones under poor conditions.

DW contacted several program participants — most of whom do not want to talk about their experiences on the record for fear of reprisals.

Chinara, a young Nigerian woman who took part in the Alabuga program and left Russia disappointed, was willing to give an interview via social media messaging services.

"They turned us into hard laborers with low wages," she wrote in the chat with DW.

"At first we felt good because when we applied, we were offered areas such as logistics, service and catering, crane........

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