Russian official reveals that many young people have been recruited in Cuba for the war in Ukraine

A Russian military officer with the rank of senior officer confirmed in statements on condition of anonymity that There are many Cubans who are on the front as part of international battalions that are fighting in the Ukrainian war.

“When I was already behind the tape in the battalion, I was, to put it mildly, in shock: There were only Cubans and Serbs there. Not everyone speaks Russian well. It is not clear how to work with them. And these are not some PMCs, they are all under contract with the Ministry of Defense,” said the military man in statements to The Moscow Times.

The information was corroborated to the aforementioned media by a Spanish translator who works with Cuban emigration, who confirmed that there are many Cubans recruited by the Ministry of Defence.

“There are many young people who come here to look for money directly from Cuba. These are not local Cubans, they do not stop in Moscow, they immediately sign a contract and go to fight.", explained the translator to the aforementioned media.

“And then they disappear, their relatives look for them through the Cuban diaspora, through social networks, and we have nothing to do with that. Most likely, the person has already died.”he added.

Cubans are recruited for the war in Ukraine mainly through groups on social networks.

In the group of Facebook “Cubans in Moscow, most of the advertisements offering to go to war have been published by a certain "Elena Shuvalova", as revealed by the aforementioned media outlet and can still be confirmed in some publication networking.

In her publications the woman invites you to sign a one-year contract with the Russian army and promises a salary of 204 thousand rubles, as well as a Russian passport for the contracted soldier and his family in six months.

Shuvalova explains that the contract would be signed even with those whose Cuban passport was expired or did not exist, claiming that a passport photo and an immigration letter were sufficient.

In conversation with The Moscow Times, the woman confirmed that she helps illegal immigrants obtain contracts.

The woman - who speaks Spanish and acts as an intermediary for procedures - said that He has already successfully helped send several Cubans to the front.

“If you have a wife and children, we can help you with accommodation for the first time. In fact, they receive a salary, and a pretty good one at that. And everyone wants to rent luxury apartments right away. But if necessary, we can help house a family and feed them for a couple of weeks before receiving the first salary,” Shuvalova explained.

The Moscow Times reveals that when asked if she works for the Ministry of Defense, the woman did not respond.

Shuvalova also writes posts with advertisements about the recruitment of contract soldiers on Vkontakte, in groups for foreigners in Russia.

The source quote reveals that in Shuvalova's profile on VKontakte there is a photo in front of a car with a sticker in the shape of the letter “Z”, among the subscriptions to this account are the groups “Ryazan” and “Moms of Ryazan ”.

In May 2023 the local media Ryazan Vedomosti published photographs of several Cubans who joined the war from Ukraine in the ranks of the Russian army.

Cuban government denies any link with sending Cubans to war

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) of Cuba issued this Monday a Declaration in which he denied any link to sending young people to the Ukrainian war, although he admitted that the Ministerio del Interior (MININT) attempts to dismantle a human trafficking network for military recruitment purposes that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba.

Without giving other details about the cases to which it refers, the statement says that already "Attempts of this nature have been neutralized and criminal proceedings have been initiated against people involved in these activities."

In addition to denying its alleged relationship with the recruitment of Cubans to send them to war in Ukraine, the Cuban Government accused its "enemies" of promoting "distorted information," in reference to the complaints published during the last days of two young Cubans who remain detained in Russian territory and without documents.

The statement did not make reference to whether it maintains any type of dialogue with the Russian Government about the possible repatriation of Cuban victims. of what MINREX itself describes as a “human trafficking network.”