Cubans lured to Russian army by high pay and passports

Russia has apt been recruiting Cuban nationals to combat successful its service successful Ukraine, probe by the BBC has shown.

In September and October 2023, passport details belonging to implicit 200 Cubans who allegedly joined the Russian service were leaked online by a pro-Ukrainian level called InformNapalm.

The passport details were obtained, the tract said, by hacking the emails of a Russian subject recruitment serviceman successful Tula, southbound of Moscow.

A Facebook hunt has shown that 31 of the names mentioned successful the Ukrainian leak lucifer accounts whose owners look to beryllium successful Russia oregon linked to the Russian army.

Some, for instance, person posted photos of themselves wearing Russian subject uniform, oregon successful locations that carnivore Russian thoroughfare signs oregon Russian fig plates. Others database Russia arsenic their existent spot of residence.

Many of those Facebook users started posting Russia-related contented successful August 2023, indicating erstwhile they mightiness person arrived successful the country.

Since launching its full-scale penetration of Ukraine, Russia has suffered dense losses connected the battlefield. A BBC probe confirmed the names of much than 50,000 Russian troops killed successful Ukraine - but the existent fig is apt to beryllium overmuch higher. Ukraine's ain estimation puts the fig of Russian soldiers killed oregon wounded successful the warfare astatine 500,000.

Recruiting foreigners to regenerate immoderate of the losses besides helps the Kremlin debar the risks posed by trying to mobilise Russians by force. When Russia declared a partial mobilisation successful 2022, hundreds of thousands of men near the country.

Bringing Cubans into Russia is comparatively straightforward. The 2 countries person been allies since the Cold War, Cubans bash not request a visa to question to Russia and nonstop flights to Moscow marque the travel easier.

Meanwhile, lucrative service contracts offered by Russia entreaty to Cuban men hopeless to flight the worsening economical situation connected the US-sanctioned island.

Documents leaked online and media reports suggest Cuban men are offered monthly payments successful the portion of $2,000 (£1,600) per period - a immense sum for Cuba, wherever the mean monthly wage is nether $35 (£28).

The committedness of Russian citizenship whitethorn besides entice immoderate Cubans.

Since the commencement of its warfare against Ukraine, Moscow has been taking steps to marque it importantly easier for foreigners to get Russian citizenship aft spending clip successful the army, and the BBC has seen societal media posts suggesting that immoderate Cuban fighters received Russian passports wrong months of signing up.

A Russian passport allows visa-free question to 117 destinations, portion Cuban passport holders are constricted to 61.

A section media outlet successful the metropolis of Ryazan, adjacent Moscow, appeared to corroborate this mentation past twelvemonth erstwhile it published photos of caller Cuban recruits signing contracts with the Russian army.

The Cubans wanted to "help our state execute the objectives the peculiar subject operation", it reported, adding that "some of them would similar to go Russian citizens successful the future".

But uncovering a reliable estimation of the fig of Cubans that person joined the Russian ranks is difficult.

Ukraine's diplomatic envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ruslan Spirin, enactment the fig astatine 400 successful an interrogation with the Wall Street Journal.

One Cuban serviceman successful Russia, Lázaro Gonzalez, told an exiled anti-government vigor presumption that 90 Cubans were serving nether his command.

According to him, they were apt to beryllium deployed to already occupied parts of eastbound Ukraine alternatively than frontline positions.

"As the Russian service occupies areas successful Ukraine, what we Cubans bash is enactment the service successful those cities and successful those areas that are occupied, that's all," Mr Gonzalez told the Miami-based vigor station.

Numerous reports suggest Cubans person often joined the Russian service aft coming into interaction with recruiters connected societal media, but that not each of them appeared alert of the existent quality of the occupation connected offer.

A fashionable Cuban YouTube contented creator told a communicative past twelvemonth of 2 19-year-olds from Cuba who claimed they had been offered operation jobs successful Russia, but were alternatively sent to the beforehand enactment successful Ukraine.

Their lawsuit reflects the experiences of different foreigners who told the BBC they were lured to Russia by the committedness of higher salaries - lone to extremity up connected the battlefield.

For their part, Cuban authorities person issued conflicting statements connected their citizens' engagement successful the Ukraine war.

Following a flurry of reporting successful September 2023 astir Cubans warring successful Ukraine, authorities successful Havana said they had arrested 17 radical progressive successful their recruitment.

However, soon afterwards, Cuba's ambassador to Russia, Julio Antonio Garmendía Peña, said his authorities had thing against Cubans who wanted to "simply motion a declaration and legally instrumentality portion successful this cognition alongside the Russian army".

Hours later, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said Havana was against "the information of Cuban citizens successful conflicts of immoderate sort".

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities person said they person seen an summation successful the fig of overseas fighters joining Russian forces successful caller months, arsenic good arsenic foreigners among the soldiers the Ukrainian service has captured connected the battlefield.

Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine's bureau for prisoners of war, told the BBC galore of them came from low-income countries specified arsenic Cuba, India and Nepal, arsenic good arsenic African and Central Asian states.

"Every week we seizure up to 5 persons from overseas countries connected the frontline arsenic prisoners of war," helium said.

Their skills arsenic fighters were low, helium added, which meant their beingness expectancy connected the battlefield was not adjacent days, but hours.