By Ernesto Eimil and Mayi Peraza (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES – “They have the advantage of speaking Russian. We don’t. They demand we pay more money and go back to the war,” Yoan explains desperately in a WhatsApp audio from mid-April 2024. He’s one of the Cubans who were “recruited” by two women (Elena and Dayana) to fight for Russia on the Ukraine front.
“They didn’t pay us our full salary, nor did they give us [Russian] passports. We’re illegal. They conned us, and now they’re threatening us,” the Cuban repeats.
A document issued by the Russian government and photos from the battlefield are the evidence that Yoan and his companions have to prove their participation in the war. Now expelled from the army, they’re sleeping in the airport, or the metro, or wherever night finds them. They don’t have papers, or the legal or economic guarantees they were promised if they enrolled in Putin’s troops. The risk of deportation and jail shadows them constantly if they don’t return to the front lines. But they don’t want to go back to the war – or to Cuba.
El Toque has been given access to the testimonies of seven Cubans who were recruited to fight in the Russian war but were expelled from the army in January 2024, for reasons that are still unclear. They now find themselves in a vulnerable situation, after falling prey to a web of “deceits” and “scams.” All are identified only with pseudonyms, to protect their safety.
The recruiting network
Cases of Cubans being recruited to participate in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in exchange for a salary and Russian citizenship, began emerging in May 2023. On September 6, 2023, El Toque published an initial piece exposing the presence of Cuban soldiers in the war. Days before, the widely shared story of two young Cubans – Alex Vegas and Andorf Velazquez – forced the government on the island to admit the existence of a trafficking network that was recruiting Cubans.
In an official statement on September 7 of that year, Cuba’s Interior Ministry indicated that the network had been “neutralized” and “disbanded.” The authorities reported that 17 people had been detained, at least three of which worked directly in Cuba. Recent evidence suggests that the fraudulent “recruiting” operations didn’t end there however. Due to the Cuban authorities’ lack of transparency, it’s impossible to know if the supposedly dismantled network is still functioning, or if it’s a different one.
Since the story of Andorf and Alex went viral, the names of several women who participated in the recruiting came to light. Two of them stand out: Elena Shuvalova, a Russian; and Dayana David Diaz, a Cuban. The names coincide with Facebook profiles posting recruiting announcements that promise a salary, Russian passport, vacations and other benefits.
Elena and Dayana were the most visible faces of the structure, but not the only ones. The Cuban recruits giving their testimonies repeatedly mention other names: Olga, the “Russian lawyer,” and Indira Noa Martinez, a Cuban who is related to Elena.
The seven men interviewed for the report assured that they made contact – mainly with Elena or Dayana – through acquaintances, social networks, or WhatsApp groups. For the most part, they arrived in Russia between May and August 2023, signed a contract with Putin’s army in the city of Ryazan in western Russia, and were dispatched to Ukraine. Some flew directly from Cuba to the frontlines of the war. Others were already in Russia and saw joining the troops as a way to legalize their immigration status.
Yoan arrived in Moscow by his own means. When he had been in the Russian capital for six months, he began to ask “about the war.” He did some research and found Elena and Dayana’s contacts. The “recruiters” instructed him to go to a pick-up point to be taken to Ryazan.
It was there where the first images of Cubans in Putin’s ranks appeared, in May 2023. A short article in the local media showed Cubans signing contracts. Another photograph showed a group of recruits during a religious ceremony.
In the course of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, the Russian authorities have had to seek more soldiers to fight on the frontlines. A massive military mobilization of Russian men, while possible, is viewed as an unpopular measure. One of the solutions the Kremlin has come up with is to contract with soldiers from other parts of the world.
To facilitate recruiting, Putin and his allies in the Russian legislature have put forward a series of laws and decrees that award these foreign fighters benefits, including a relatively high salary and the possibility of being granted Russian citizenship.
Yoan, like the other Cuban soldiers, said he signed a contract that wasn’t translated into Spanish, and that they weren’t allowed to take a picture of it for reference. The recruiters promised him and his compatriots that they would legalize their immigration status once the contract was fulfilled. But events didn’t play out like that.
“It was: ‘you signed, now you’re off.’ They put us on a bus and said they’d give us three months training, which was a lie. Before we knew it, we were in Ukraine, on the frontlines of combat. They only paid us for two or three of the months we spent there, and never the complete salary,” Yoan told us.
Salaries for serving in the Russian army can be as high as 204,000 rubles [approximately US $2,185 at the current exchange rate]. Of their first salary, Yoan says, Elena deducted 200,000 rubles as her “commission.” All seven men echoed the same experience of having their first salary withheld as payment for facilitating their contract. At least one of those who arrived from Cuba was told the money was to cover the cost of his flight
