The brand new Twitter accounts many guys whoever labels and you will pictures fits the latest passports viewed by time indicate that it rapidly ended up selling ramshackle houses and left their girlfriends, wives, and you may young children to leave having Russia. The newest recruits’ societal-news accounts underscore the newest difficulty of its resides in Cuba, that have listings asking to own medication and you will selling from phone pieces to help you rationed chicken to the black market web sites. “Into the currency it is possible to spend me personally,” one Cuban man told you into the a video towards WhatsApp treated so you’re able to Russian employers, “if I’m murdered or not, no less than I will be in a position to help my children.”
Regarding the days one to followed, a blast of Cuban recruits started to arrive in Tula, according to hacked data
“My father decided to go to Angola,” that young man blogged inside an extended need regarding their choice, referencing Cuba’s deployment of greater than fifty,000 “volunteers” to Angola and you will Ethiopia out of 1975 to 1991 to fight from inside the Soviet-backed battles. “Every my men ancestors was basically in some battle and i need to follow along with them…I know the thought of cannon fodder and i dont proper care.”
Towards the July step one, Russian airline Aeroflot first started working head routes regarding Cuban coastline city of Varadero so you’re able to Moscow. “We now have 14 someone within alternatives section,” Maj. Anton Valentinovich Perevozchikov, an effective Russian armed forces officer in the city away from Tula, authored during the a contact towards July 18. “Passport translations was urgently necessary.” The newest circulate seemed to continue for at the very least thirty days. “ten more folks are on their way observe myself now,” the fresh new officer typed toward Aug. 18. (Perevozchikov did not answer TIME’s request for remark.)
For the video clips shared with Cuban news, recruits movie on their own in the a military israeli beautiful girls foot having their brains hairless by the Russian troops
This type of characters and you will attached records was in fact towards the Sept. 5 of the a great Ukrainian activist hacker group called “Cyber Opposition UA,” which includes together with taken responsibility on the current leakage out of hacked emails from Russian people in politics. “The latest Cuban bodies is trying so you can abdicate responsibility to own sending the people to help you war against Ukraine,” the brand new hacker category typed for the Telegram following Cuban regulators produced the human being-trafficking allegation. “We’ll ‘help’ this new Cuban regulators to consider the trouble and you can publish the fresh new passports away from two hundred mercenaries.”
Big date been able to matches at the very least 20 labels into the passports so you’re able to public-mass media profiles. A number of the photo include images of the Russian migration notes, and that state the reason for going to the nation since “tourism.” The arrivals appear to have flown towards the Sheremetyevo Global Airport in Moscow, where numerous reported getting met because of the Cuban soldiers. In one pictures seen by time, latest arrivals twist having a beneficial selfie in the airport having an excellent other Cuban dressed in an army uniform to the Russian banner spot, giving an excellent thumbs-upwards signal.
The fresh recruits didn’t cover-up its actions, in general you are going to expect once they have been section of a keen undercover strategy or “trafficking” procedure. Specific altered its Facebook destination to “living in Moscow” and you may published frequent pictures having landmarks and military gear. Six photo sent to nearest and dearest and viewed from the Go out show Cuban recruits posing during the barracks or holding weapons. In one single, Pedro Soto Hernandez, whose passport means him once the an excellent 59-year-dated indigenous out of Granma, poses from inside the a Russian army uniform, pulsating a peace sign on the caption “por los angeles madre patria.” (“On the motherland.”) That recruit’s aunt advised Day she spoke to help you their particular nephew nearly daily, and that he had been however training in Russia.
But following the recruits’ deployment in order to Ukraine, most of the newest interaction seemed to cease, causing perplexed and frequently eager messages away from friends home. “Now i need a number where I could visited my cousin,” a woman called Yanisleydy Hernandez posted into the July 6. “The guy signed up about [Russian] Armed forces.” Several recruits told Cuban mass media that their phones was in fact taken away because of the Russian pushes after they have been deployed, citing cover issues about are detected from the drones. For the a July 30 article released within the Cuban communities into the Fb, a private guy told you he was struggling to reach their friend in the Russia to inform your his aunt had died home. “Excite, cubanos, don’t be tricked by the this type of false promises,” the person typed. “The challenge when you look at the Cuba is actually bad, but planning a battle is not a good [better] alternative.”