Peru’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday confirmed that at least 459 of its nationals have enlisted to fight for Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The confirmation comes as Peruvian authorities work to repatriate its nationals who denounce having been deceived and subjected into forced enlistment by Russia in the ongoing war.
On Sunday, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry released a statement indicating that it has officially confirmed 459 cases of Peruvian men who have enlisted to fight for the Russian Armed Forces. The Ministry explained that two young Peruvian men have been recently repatriated after they reported having been subjected to forced recruitment and made to fight against Ukraine.
The two repatriated men join two other Peruvians in similar situations identified by the Peruvian embassy in Moscow. Per the Ministry, all four men are now back in Peru and have been reunited with their families.
Of the total confirmed cases, the Ministry detailed 11 had been killed in combat, 114 remain missing, and three have been captured by the Ukrainian Army. According to the Foreign Ministry, 31 Peruvians have so far been evacuated out of Russia — 28 who returned to Peru and three who remain in Europe “by their own decision.”
“The public is warned not to be misled by false job offers, as they could fall victim to criminal human trafficking networks. Serving in the military of any foreign state requires prior authorization from the Peruvian government, in accordance with the Constitution,” the Ministry’s statement read in part.
Sunday’s statement is the first update of its kind released by Peru’s Foreign Ministry following the July 28 inauguration of conservative President Keiko Fujimori. The Russian embassy in Lima has not publicly commented on the situation at press time.
Peruvian families have been publicly warning for months that members of their respective families were deceived and trafficked to Russia to fight for the Russian military in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
According to the testimonies that the families shared with local outlets and with Peruvian authorities, their relatives were allegedly misled with false work promises by a trafficking network that mainly targets graduates from Peru’s Armed Forces and National Police. The victims are allegedly lured with enticing job offers and ultimately flown to Russia.
Upon their arrival, the families testified, the victims are made to sign documents that allegedly involve a process to obtain Russian citizenship — effectively making the Peruvian men subject to Russian military laws and obligations. Eventually, the men are sent to the frontlines in Ukraine to fight for Russia.
According to Radio Programas del Peru (RPP), a group of Peruvian relatives of men falsely recruited to fight for Russia, staged a peaceful protest outside the Russian embassy in Lima last week demanding the safe return of their relatives. The families reportedly said they have spent months without any information on the whereabouts and current state of their relatives.
At the time of the protest, RPP detailed, a recruited Peruvian man who identified himself as “José” made a video call to his relatives. The man reportedly affirmed that he is in a healthcare facility about two hours away from Moscow and explained that he has multiple injuries and shrapnel in his heart after a missile struck right next to him and a “fellow soldier, also Latin American,” lost a leg.
Carolina Fernández, who identified herself as the man’s sister, reportedly said that José traveled to Russia under contract for “cleaning and paramedic duties.” According to her testimony, José worked transporting Russians wounded in combat for the first few months before he was ordered to undergo military training and sent to the front lines.
“They refuse to remove the shrapnel lodged near his pulmonary artery and heart. They told him he has to live with it and will be sent back to the front lines on August 15,” Fernández explained on Tuesday, per RPP.
The cases denounced by Peruvian families are not unique to the country. In Cuba, human rights activists and dissidents have repeatedly reported that the communist Castro regime is actively facilitating the shipping of Cuban men to bolster Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last month, Bolivian government officials warned that, much like the known cases in Cuba and Peru, young Bolivian men are being deceived with false “job offers” in Russia, only for the victims to end up fighting for the Russian Army in Ukraine. At the time, the Russian embassy in La Paz denied any involvement in the trafficking of Bolivian men to join the war. Instead, the embassy accused Ukraine of allegedly enlisting Bolivians to fight for the Ukrainian Army.
Other nations whose citizens have been found fighting for Russia in Ukraine include India, Zambia, and Kenya.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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