Forced labour accounts for 98 percent of cases of modern slavery in Russia. Made up of both Russian and foreign workers, particularly from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, these people are enslaved in the agricultural and construction sectors, in factories, private homes, forestry, automotive and fishing industries. Russia also stands as the second largest migrant receiving country in the world, and remains one of the top 5 destinations for Ukrainians seeking work. These migrant workers often rely on underground networks and intermediaries, not knowing exactly what work they are committing to. Increased unemployment, poverty and demands for cheap labour among Russian citizens, along with the flow of cross-border migration has created new pockets of vulnerability and opportunities for labour exploitation in the country. Under pressure to make loan repayments, Oksana travelled from Ukraine with a friend to work at a wholesale market. After poor safety conditions led the women to request to be moved, they were taken to an abandoned stock base and ushered in to a small room filled with wooden pallets and dirty mattresses. Subjected to long-working hours and nightly sexual abuses, Oksana along with others eventually escaped, hitchhiking back to Ukraine.  

In Russia it is estimated that thousands of women and children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking in prostitution and pornography. Women are lured by the promise of lucrative employment and a new location, travelling to the country under the pretence of legitimate employment and a better life. However when they arrive, they are forced into prostitution in brothels, hotels and saunas. There is also evidence of traffickers advertising sexual services of children online. However, despite the evidence of sex trafficking in Russia, it remains an under-recognised area of enslavement in the country. Recently split from her husband and in need of money Marina replied to a newspaper advertisement for a seamstress in Moscow. It was upon meeting her employer that Marina was transported to a house underground along with six other women, and informed that she was now enslaved as a sex worker. Forced to live in unhygienic conditions and required to submit to any clientele request or face physical violence, Marina was only able to escape when she was declared ‘unfit’ to work.