(Reuters) – Cuba is not against the legal participation of its citizens in Russia’s war in Ukraine, state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Cuban envoy to Moscow, despite Havana’s crackdown on trafficking of Cubans to fight for the Kremlin.
Last week Cuban authorities said they had arrested 17 people on charges related to a ring of human traffickers that allegedly had lured young Cuban men to serve in the Russian military amid the Ukraine conflict.
The Cuban ambassador to Moscow, Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena, said the arrested people, all Cuban citizens, had been engaged in illegal activities and had broken the law.
“We have nothing against Cubans who just want to sign a contract and legally take part with the Russian army in this operation. But we are against illegality and these operations that have nothing to do with the legal field,” RIA quoted the ambassador as saying.
He did not say whether Cuba would also be relaxed about its citizens fighting on Ukraine’s side in the war, now in its 19th month.
Cuba’s foreign ministry said last week the human trafficking network that authorities were now working to “neutralise and dismantle” had operated from Russia “to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine”.
Russia’s defence ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the matter.
Russia, which has strong political ties with communist-run Cuba, has long been an important destination for Cuban migrants seeking to escape economic stagnation at home.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last year signed a decree allowing foreigners signing up for service in the Russian army to receive citizenship via a fast-track procedure.
Cuba denies any involvement in the war in Ukraine and says it rejects the use of its citizens as mercenaries.
(Reporting by Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Gareth Jones)
