Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has criticised President William Ruto’s decision to announce a Bayern Munich and Ajax Amsterdam friendly while attending the Third Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum in Moscow.

Ruto used a recorded address from Moscow on Wednesday evening to announce that the two European clubs will meet in Nairobi on January 5, 2027, to mark the opening of the Raila Odinga International Stadium.

Speaking in Nairobi on Friday during the launch of the Linda Mwananchi Movement offices, Sifuna said he had expected a different announcement from the President’s Moscow trip. He said he had hoped Ruto would confirm the release of more than 1,000 Kenyans he claims were recruited to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.

Sifuna also claimed that some of those Kenyans are being held in Ukrainian detention camps and that others remain unaccounted for. He did not present evidence for the recruitment figure or the detention claims, and the Kenyan government has not confirmed them.

The senator pledged that if elected President, he would personally intervene to secure the release of any Kenyans detained in Ukraine, describing it as the kind of direct presidential action taken by other countries when their citizens are in danger abroad. He cited evacuations by air and sea as examples.

Sifuna spoke at the launch of the Linda Mwananchi Movement headquarters in Lavington, where he was joined by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

The friendly match is planned for January 5, 2027 at the Raila Odinga International Stadium.