The Cuban independent mediaCubaNet, interviewed a dozen young Cubans who were contacted by Russian Army recruiters and who were unable to travel to that country after the scandal that led to the first revelations about the sending ofCuban mercenaries at the service of Moscow in the invasion of Ukraine.
In an exercise of investigative journalism, the aforementioned media also revealed the name of a key figure in this recruitment plot, the representative of the Ulyanovsk Regional Office of the Russian Society of Friendship with Cuba and administrator of the Facebook group created by himself and named 'Russia for Cubans', Vladimir Shkunov.
Of the 11 Cubans interviewed byCubanet, eight claimed to have received messages fromShkunov, a History graduate from a Soviet military academy and member of the Russian Communist Party.
Shkunov frequently travels to Havana and maintains contacts with the main Cuban leaders. According to this medium, at the end of June 2023, the Russian recruiter was among those invited to theofficial reception and decoration ceremonies of the minister of theRevolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), The generalAlvaro Lopez Miera, held in Moscow.
According to your profileX, Shkunov works for the Pension Fund of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In addition, he is a Doctor of Historical Sciences, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, professor and member of the Expert Council of the Government of the Russian Federation.
He also regularly participates in the activities of the Cuban Embassy in Moscow and, according toCubaNet, maintains a close friendship with the ambassadorJulio Garmendia, the official who publicly declared thatThe regime was not opposed to “legal participation” of Cuban citizens in the one called byVladimir Putin “Russian special operation in Ukraine.”
Shkunov, who is the head of the Inzensky district in the Ulyanovsk Oblast,He is indicated by the testimony of the Cubans interviewed as the person who recruits the Cuban mercenaries in Russia..
According to those interviewed,Russian recruiters lean towards young Cubans with military training, or who have passed Military Service. These are the ones who receive the “interesting proposals” through social networks, many of which use construction or other jobs as bait for military recruitment.
The testimonies of young Cubans
To young manBrayan Gonzalez He received a message on Messenger, on his Facebook account, and decided to try it. Having just completed his Military Service in Cuba, he decided to try his luck as a worker in Moscow.
“It was supposed to be for construction and that they would pay me about 2,000 rubles a day [about 20 dollars at the exchange rate in Cuba] and that at the end of the contract they would give me 2,000 euros plus the possibility of residing permanently in Russia (…). I didn't have to pay anything here in Cuba, neither the plane ticket nor the passport procedures, they later deducted that from my salary while I was in Moscow,” said Brayan.
His testimony takes on special relevance as it sheds light on the direct involvement of the Cuban military in the Russian operation to recruit mercenaries from the Island.
“I was surprised because that was in July 2022, and [Russia's invasion of] Ukraine was recent,” Brayan said. “There were almost no flights to Moscow, andIn the military unit, before we were discharged, a lieutenant colonel came to give us a talk about the war, internationalism, the friendship between Russia and Cuba and he even asked us if we were willing to go to Russia.”.
“Everyone said yes, you know, you are in the green [Military Service], you don't want problems, you have to say yes to everything, but that smelled strange to me, and I immediately thought about that when the person who wrote to me “He started asking me about military things,” he added.
Finally, Brayan did not accept the proposal and stayed in Cuba, but several of his friends did accept it and he currently has no news from them, despite having been in daily communication before traveling to Moscow.
Another young graduate of Active Military Service (SMA) also spoke about his experience toCubaNet. Osvaldo Casasus He received a proposal similar to Brayan's just days after finishing his SMA. However, the friend who facilitated the contact did tell him about the true purpose of the “employment contract.”
However, after meetingthe testimony of the young Cubans Andorf Antonio Velázquez García and Alex Rolando Vega Díaz, his plans fell apart.
“I already had the passport, I had the ticket for September 10,” Osvaldo said. “We even had a farewell party at the house but the day before they called me, a Cuban who I still don't know who he is (...), with a hidden number, and he told me that there is no trip, that we had to wait,” he said.
“Then I write to Liosha [Liosha Semenov, contractor in Russia] and he doesn't respond to me, he even blocked me, he disappeared (...). Even so, I told my mom, I'm going to the airport because maybe they're running a machine for me [joke] but when I go to check in, they push me out of line, and about 15 minutes later a man dressed in civilian who takes me to an office. There he tells me that I can't travel, I ask him if there are problems with the passport but he tells me no, that nothing happens but that I couldn't travel at the moment, just like that. Grab your things and go. They didn't come looking for me, no one asked me anything else, they just told me to go home and calm down. Luckily I didn't have to pay a single peso, but you can imagine, I really wanted to leave here," he added.
The 11 young people interviewed byCubaNet They claimed to have been recently linked – as soldiers or low-ranking officers – to the Cuban Army before being recruited to enlist as mercenaries in the Russian Armed Forces.
All acknowledged having received special training in infantry and martial arts., as well as having attended a talk on the friendship between Cuba and Russia, offered by the Cuban military, and the suggestion of possible help in case the Russian Government requested it.
Likewise, all of them indicated having had a first contact with their recruiters on the Island and in Russia through Facebook, and also under the façade of a work contract for construction work. Only one of those interviewed was requested for “mule” services or merchandise smuggling, although the true purposes later became clear.
“Vladímir [Shkunov] writes to me and tells me that there are good jobs, that they are looking for young people for construction,” he said.Fidel Hernandez, who managed to be accepted although he could not travel to Russia.
“First he tells me that it is construction; I send him my information and about a week later he writes to me again asking me if I was willing to join the Army, that they would pay me well, and I answered yes, but that he couldn't pay for the procedures; Then he tells me that it doesn't matter, that they weren't even going to ask me anything [at the airports] neither here nor in Moscow. I had everything to leave but everything is frozen for the moment (...), they told me until further notice (...). Vladimir wrote to me only once after that to ask me if I was still interested (…). Of course I do, the thing is to get out of here and then we'll see," he added.
CubaNet He clarified that the names of the young people interviewed were changed to protect their identity.
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