How Russia is recruiting Cuban mercenaries

The Telegram account “Cyber Résistance”, which calls itself a group of “hacktivists” and says it has been working with Ukrainian authorities for nearly a decade, posted scans of 192 passports, all belonging to Cuban men except for one Colombian, on September 6 and 7. The group also posted images of official documents stating that these men had arrived in Russia – and what they say is a template of a contract in Spanish for enlistment in the Russian Army. 

The documents were hacked by the group from the email account of Anton Perevoztchikov, a commander in the Russian Army. According to Perevoztchikov’s CV, which the hackers also leaked, he runs the military recruitment station in Toula, located 200 km south of Moscow. Articles published by local media outlets about the recruitment centre say that it is run by an officer with the same name. 

Our team was unable to contact the supposed recruiter of the Cuban mercenaries, Anton Perevoztchikov. Our repeated calls to the recruitment centre in Toula went unanswered. However, investigative media outlet The Intercept did manage to contact Perevoztchikov. He didn’t deny his role in recruiting the Cubans and said that: “Russia will win.”

The hackers said that they transferred all of the information that they obtained from the hack of the commander’s email to the Ukrainian authorities. We do not know how they were able to hack into the recruiter’s email account. In addition, Russia’s process for recruiting Cubans remains a mystery. 

‘I can’t say, it’s confidential’ 

We did some digging into the people whose passports were shared by the hackers. We located the Facebook and Instagram profiles of many of them. In doing so, we determined that at least three of them were already in Russia before the war began. Another eight mentioned on social media that they had moved to Russia this summer. A further 15 said that they live in Russia, but didn’t specify how long they had been living there. Seven of the men shared images of Toula and five of them posted photos showing themselves in Russian uniform. 

Our team messaged all 126 Cuban nationals whose social media accounts we located. Two of them responded to us. One of them then said that he didn’t want to be interviewed. One, however, agreed to speak.  

We spoke on the phone with the man, who we are calling “Juan” for security reasons. He didn’t tell us his precise location, but we could hear other people speaking in the background during the call. 

Juan confirmed to us that he had enlisted in the Russian Army. He also said that he was going to be deployed to Ukraine, although he didn’t say when. He said that he wasn’t allowed to give any details about what he was doing in Russia. We’ve transcribed our conversation, which took place in Spanish. 

 

Question: Can you confirm to me that you are employed by the Russian Army? 

Answer: Yes. I arrived in Russia two months ago. 

Q: Are you paid for what you are doing? 

A: Yes, obviously. 

Q: How were you recruited? 

A: Normally. 

Q: Why did you come to Russia? 

A: To make a living, to have a better life. 

Q: And do you know what you will be asked to do? 

A: Yes, completely. But it is confidential. 

Q : Are there a lot of other mercenaries with you? 

A: Yes, they are all from Cuba. 

Q: Do you know when you’ll be going to Ukraine? 

A: That’s confidential also. 

Q: How long do you plan to stay here in Russia? 

A: My plan is to stay here for a long time, I came here for a better life. In Cuba, I couldn’t find work. 

Q: Are you and your fellow mercenaries aware that Ukrainian hackers obtained access to your information, including your passports? 

A: Yeah, I know. Everyone here knows that they posted our information online, but what they said is the truth.

After our conversation, “Juan” stopped responding to our messages. 

‘I came to Russia because there was an opportunity’

“Luis” is also a Cuban national who had an image of his passport posted online by the hackers. Once again, Luis is a pseudonym, used to protect his identity. Luis told us that he left Cuba and traveled to Toula, Russia. 

In Cuba, I was working with computers. I decided to leave the country because the economy is in a critical situation. I’ve always worked, since I was 16. Before, I could make a living. But during the pandemic, there was a change in the money, which made things worse [Editor’s note: In January 2021, the Cuban government carried out a reform in order to have a single currency – before, it had a dual currency system.] 

Since then, it’s been impossible to get by on our salaries, especially to buy food. There’s no future in Cuba. That’s why so many Cubans are emigrating. I decided to leave to help my family.  

I came to Russia because there was an opportunity that I wanted to take advantage of, but I could have gone any number of other places. I left Cuba in July [Editor’s note: we decided not to share the exact date of his departure, again, to preserve his anonymity]. 

I took a direct flight to Moscow, which cost me 500 dollars. When I arrived, I immediately got on a bus for Toula. 

 

Our team asked Luis if he went to Toula to help the Russians in their war against Ukraine. 

“You should know because you are journalists!” he responded. “We can’t talk about what we are doing here.”

Templates of contracts in Spanish 

The hackers also published what they said was an enlistment contract in Spanish for the Russian Armed Forces based in Toula, located to the south of Moscow. 

The contract seems to be a template and is not filled out. 

The contract states that the Cubans who sign the contract are entitled to “a single payment of 194,000 rubles”, equivalent to roughly 1,900 euros, for service in “the special military operation zone in the territory in the region of Toula”.

The Russian Army has used the term “special military operation” for the war in Ukraine since they first invaded in February 2022. Russian media have not reported on a “special military operation” in Toula, however, so that phrasing is confusing.

The hackers also say that the contracts promised a monthly salary of 204,000 rubles (2,000 euros). These numbers are miles above the average monthly salary in Cuba, which is just 34 euros.

Our team was not able to independently verify these contracts. 

 

When we looked at the social media accounts of these men, we found that most of them seem to come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. For example, one of them posted a photo of his family in front of a cabin with a tin roof. 

 

Travel documented on social media 

More than half of the passports leaked were issued in 2023, many of them in June or July. 

As well as the passport images, the hackers also obtained other documents. At least 24 of the Cubans also sent the Russian recruiter images of the document stating that they had entered Russian territory. These documents show that most of them arrived in Moscow between July and August 2023 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. They traveled via Belarus. One of them arrived on July 20, six of them arrived on August 1, five of them arrived on August 10, nine of them arrived on August 12 and two arrived on August 17. 

The hackers also posted screengrabs of the mercenaries’ social media posts, enabling them to retrace their journey. 

One of them, who entered Russia on July 18, posted a photo of himself the very next day, showing him in the street where the Toula recruitment centre is located. The Russian media has reported on the centre’s address. 

Another Cuban posted a photo of himself on August 26 in front of a historic fortress in Toula, as well as in a mall also located in the city.  

Another one of the Cubans published this photo of himself on September 2 in front of a recognisable building in Toula. 

 

Another of the Cubans posted an Instagram story (archived by InfoNapalm, a pro-Ukrainian site that publishes information about the Russian war in Ukraine) as well as a Facebook video that shows his arrival in Toula and then posing in front of historic monuments in the town. 

Some of the Cubans posted on social media that they had moved to Russia, while others responded to comments from their families or their acquaintances saying that they were in Russia.

In a birthday message to her nephew, a person who said that she was the aunt of one of the Cubans mentioned that he was currently located in Russia and that he was “at war”. 

Some of the Cubans have posted photos of themselves in Russian military uniforms, like these photos below, published on August 7. 

A road to Russian citizenship for those who enlist

In May of this year, TKR-info, a pro-governmental Russia media outlet, posted a report about Cubans already living in Russia. Many of them joined the war effort after Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a road to Russian citizenship for foreign nationals who joined the army.  

 

 

In an article published by The Moscow Times, an independent Russian media outlet, on September 5, a Russian woman said that she had used a Facebook group to recruit Cubans who were already living in Russia into the army.  A superior officer in the Russian Army said that he was shocked by the number of battalions made up of international fighters currently fighting in Ukraine. 

“There were Cubans, there were Serbs. […] all under contract with the Ministry of Defence,” he said. 

Our team contacted the Russian Ministry of Defence but they have not responded to our inquiries. 

Network of mercenary recruitment dismantled in Cuba 

The hacking was not covered by Russian state media outlets, but the story was widely covered by the Cuban media. 

Before the hacking took place, Cuba announced on September 4 that it had arrested 17 people associated with an illegal network recruiting mercenaries for “military operations in Ukraine”. The interior ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they wanted to “neutralise and dismantle a network of human trafficking operating from Russia attempting to incorporate Cuban citizens who live there, as well as some from Cuba, in the military forces implicated in the military operations in Ukraine”.

For the time being, there has been no connection established between this network and the network in Toula. 

Despite its links with Russia, Cuba denies any role in the war in Ukraine.