The government of Cuba on Monday announced the dismantling of a human trafficking network based in Russia that recruited Cubans to fight as mercenaries in the war in Ukraine.
The Interior Ministry “has detected and dismantled a human trafficking network operating from Russia to recruit Cuban citizens stationed there, including some from Cuba,” the State Department said in a statement.
‘Cuba is not part of the armed conflict in Ukraine’ underlined the State Department, assuring that Cuba is “energetically acting and will act” against them “participate in any kind of human trafficking for the purpose of recruitment (…) so that Cuban citizens can use weapons against any country”.
In this regard, it should be noted that the authorities on the island “These kinds of attempts were neutralized and criminal proceedings were initiated against people involved in these activities”. The communiqué does not specify which individuals or organizations are behind this network.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez also defended that Cuba has a “firm and clear historic position against” mercenary groups and “plays an active role in the United Nations in rejecting this practice.”
The Cuban government and official media have echoed Moscow’s rhetoric when referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but at the United Nations they have on several occasions chosen to abstain from voting in favor of the Kremlin’s views to support.
Source: DN
