Havana dismantles a Russian network that recruited Cubans to fight in the war in Ukraine

A statement from the island’s Foreign Ministry reports that the Ministry of the Interior “detected and is working to neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba.” .

“Cuba is not part of the armed conflict in Ukraine,” stresses the Foreign Ministry, which ensures that Cuba “is acting and will act energetically” against anyone “participating in any form of human trafficking for recruitment or mercenary purposes so that Cuban citizens make use of arms against any country”.

In this sense, it refers that the authorities of the island “have neutralized attempts of this nature and criminal proceedings have been initiated against people involved in these activities.” The statement does not specify which people or organizations are behind this network.

The island’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, has stressed that “the force of the law is being acted against these claims”, in a message on his profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

It also maintains that Cuba has a “firm and clear historical position against mercenarism” and plays “an active role in the United Nations in repudiation of this practice”, while mentioning that it has been the author of several of the initiatives that are approved. in that forum.

It also “categorically” rejects and attributes “distorted” information to “Cuba’s enemies” that “seeks to tarnish the image of the country and present it as an accomplice to these actions.”

The Cuban government and the official media have largely used Moscow’s rhetoric when referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but at the United Nations they have opted to abstain on several occasions instead of supporting the Kremlin’s positions.