The journey agent, the hairdresser, and the struggle Two Russian ladies recruited Cubans to combat in Ukraine. Then they had been despatched to the entrance themselves.

The investigative outlet Sistema has revealed an investigation into how residents of Cuba and Sri Lanka had been recruited to be a part of the Russian military and combat in Ukraine. Journalists discovered that two ladies from Ryazan, in western Russia, had been behind the scheme — a journey agent and a hairdresser. Both had been later jailed on theft costs and finally despatched to the entrance themselves. Meduza summarizes Sistema’s key findings.

Reports that Cubans had been being recruited to combat in Russia’s struggle towards Ukraine first surfaced in September 2023, when the Cuban authorities introduced it had uncovered a human trafficking community concerned in the hassle. Seventeen suspects had been arrested. Officials mentioned each Cubans dwelling in Russia and on the island itself had been being recruited. This October, U.S. authorities estimated that between 1,000 and 5,000 Cubans had been combating in Ukraine.

In May 2024, Sri Lanka’s authorities launched its personal investigation into comparable recruitment schemes after the Foreign Ministry acquired lots of of complaints from residents who mentioned they’d been lured to Russia with false guarantees of excessive salaries and citizenship. Officials confirmed receiving 455 formal reviews however mentioned the precise variety of recruits was doubtless a lot greater.

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In 2023, Cuban media informed the story of two younger males, Alex Vega and Andorf Velasquez, who mentioned they traveled to Russia for building work, however had been as an alternative despatched to the entrance. They mentioned they signed contracts to “dig trenches” and do different handbook labor, with no point out of fight. A Cuban girl and two Russian ladies helped them purchase tickets and full their paperwork. According to Vega and Velasquez, about 200 different Cubans had been on their flight to Moscow, all hoping to earn money the identical approach.

At the airport, they had been met by a Russian girl and a Cuban soldier who supplied them one-year contracts with the Russian military. The deal promised salaries of 200,000 rubles (round $2,500) a month and Russian citizenship for them and their households. Their Cuban passports had been confiscated, supposedly to course of their citizenship paperwork. Soon after signing, Vega and Velasquez had been despatched to a army coaching camp — after which to Ukraine, the place they dug trenches in a forest.

One channel for recruitment was reportedly a Facebook group referred to as Cubanos en Moscú (“Cubans in Moscow”). Most of the posts encouraging Cubans to enlist in the Russian military had been shared by a consumer named Yelena Shuvalova, who supplied the identical wage and citizenship advantages Vega and Velasquez talked about. In 2023, she informed The Moscow Times that she did certainly assist organize contracts, together with for undocumented migrants.

Journalists from Sistema recognized the lady behind the Facebook profile “Yelena Shuvalova” as 41-year-old Yelena Smirnova from Ryazan, a former journey agent who speaks six languages, together with Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish. According to the outlet’s investigation, Smirnova’s youngsters from her first marriage had been cared for by a Cuban nanny. Allegedly, Smirnova’s father later married the nanny to assist her get hold of authorized standing in Russia. Then, in 2022, Smirnova herself married the daddy of the nanny’s youngsters, a Cuban man, so he may obtain Russian citizenship.

By 2023, Smirnova had begun recruiting residents of Cuba and Sri Lanka who had been searching for work, connecting them with Russian army officers providing contracts with the military. She reportedly paid for his or her flights, transportation, and housing in Russia, anticipating reimbursement as soon as they enlisted. The recruits signed their contracts at a army enlistment workplace in Ryazan. But in keeping with Sistema, some refused to repay her after realizing they’d been deceived about being despatched to combat in the struggle. Several additionally mentioned they by no means acquired their full salaries and suspected that the recruiters had been taking a reduce. In April 2024, a number of Cubans filed police reviews in Russia, and Smirnova was arrested on theft costs and positioned in pre-trial detention.

A letter from her lawyer to Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova claimed that Smirnova had despatched greater than 3,000 international nationals to combat in Ukraine — a determine additionally cited by one in every of her acquaintances. The protection insisted that Smirnova stole nothing and that if she withdrew any further funds from recruits’ accounts, the cash went to Russian troopers as “humanitarian aid.” The lawyer additionally alleged that the 11 Cubans who reported Smirnova to the police did so “under pressure from operatives.”

Another girl accused by Cuban recruits of stealing cash, 40-year-old Olga Shilyaeva, was additionally arrested. Her husband is a serviceman, and at the time she met Smirnova in 2023, she was working part-time as a hairdresser. According to a mutual acquaintance who spoke to Sistema, the 2 met by likelihood exterior a fast-food restaurant in Ryazan. Smirnova allegedly supplied Shilyaeva work serving to the households of international fighters legalize their keep in Russia, saying she couldn’t handle it on their own.

At first, Shilyaeva labored solely with households, however she quickly started dealing with recruitment contracts as effectively. Together, the 2 ladies reportedly spent almost all their time at Ryazan’s enlistment middle, sending 30–40 folks to the entrance every day.

According to her lawyer’s letter, whereas in detention Smirnova “lost faith in the fairness of the investigation” and submitted a written request to signal her personal contract with the Defense Ministry and go combat in Ukraine. The actual timing is unclear, however the lawyer’s letter was dated October 23, 2024.

A mutual acquaintance informed Sistema that each ladies are actually serving in the “Storm V” assault unit, made up of inmate recruits. Shilyaeva reportedly believes her prosecution and deployment had been revenge by army officers for serving to some Cubans problem what she described as illegal dismissals. Shilyaeva’s sister later wrote in a VKontakte remark that Olga had been “sent to war under false pretenses.” She mentioned her sister was deployed to the village of Zaitseve in the Luhansk area, the place there’s allegedly an illegal detention web site for Russian troopers who refused to combat.

Neither Shilyaeva nor Smirnova responded to Sistema’s requests for remark.