“Russia has been actively recruiting mercenaries from Cuba since the beginning of 2023. […] We are reliably known to the names and personal data of 1028 Cubans who signed a contract with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2023–2024, ”the report said.
The project published a list of Cuban mercenaries in the Russian army.
“After a wide public resonance in 2023, 17 people were detained in Cuba, accused of recruiting citizens of the country to participate in the war against Ukraine. […] Since then, the number of recruited Cubans has increased significantly. According to our data, about 20 thousand citizens of Cuba became victims of Russian recruiters. The authorities of Cuba need to make efforts so that their citizens do not turn into Russian cannon fodder, ”said“ I want to live ”.
Its representatives note that the Cubans make up the backbone of Russian mercenaries along with the citizens of Sri Lanka, Nepal and the countries of Central Asia.
“For recruitment of Cubans, the” pop “scheme is used: to bribe, deceive, force. Mercenaries are offered to the mercenaries in Russia with handymen, builders, in warehouses, in protection and so on. The average salary in a cube is $ 32–35 a month, therefore, when the Cubans offer” easy work in fraternal Russia “with a monthly salary of $ 2000–2500, many without a backdrop thought of thought of thought Sign contract documents in Russian, ”it is written in a post.
In the “I want to live” they brought as an example the story of the Cuban mercenary of Frank Dario Yarssey Manfugi.
“He understood what he signed up only when they began to give helmets and body armor on a military base in Rostov. An attempt to refuse to participate in the war ended for Dario by beating and sending to the assault unit,” the project said.
His representatives agreed that there were those who consciously came to earn money in the war, and reminded that most of the mercenaries “were not destined to return alive or preserve all four limbs after participating in Russian” meat assaults “.
“Whatever the“ golden mountains ”the recruiters promise you, everything usually ends with death in one of the many meat assaults. Only units manage to survive and fall into Ukrainian captivity,” the Russian mercenaries were warned in the project “I want to live”.
Context
On attracting foreign mercenaries to the Russian occupation army in March 2022 Reported in the Pentagon.
January 16, 2023 it became known that in Russia foreigners offer service in the army In exchange for citizenship of the Russian Federation.
The fact that Russia was recruiting foreigners to the army, in September 2023 Reported British intelligence. In particular, they recruited citizens of Armenia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, as well as migrants from Central Asia. In intelligence, it was reported that the Uzbek migrant builders in Mariupol Donetsk region confiscated passports upon arrival and forced them to join the ranks of the Russian army.
April 23, 2025 Russian edition “Important Stories” published a material that mentioned At least 1.5 thousand mercenaries of the Russian army from at least 48 countries of the world. According to the data from April 2023 to the end of May 2024, eight Cuba citizens have passed a medical examination for signing a contract to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
