Russia is actively recruiting Peruvian citizens to fight in the war
CNN reports this.
Most of those recruited come from poor families. They were promised legal employment, high wages and the prospect of obtaining Russian citizenship.
One of the Peruvians told his mother at the end of January that he was leaving to work as a cook in the Russian army. He later sent a video showing him digging trenches alongside other foreigners in the part of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia.
After that, the man said that his commander had punished him for ‘inappropriate behaviour’. Soon afterwards, all contact with him was lost.
Another woman, Rosa, said that her husband had travelled to Russia hoping to work as a security guard. However, journalists examined his correspondence with a recruiter, which shows that he had signed a one-year contract to serve in the Russian army.
His wife received the last message from him on 26 March. He wrote that he was being transferred and had been ordered to take his weapon and personal belongings.
The Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the recruitment of Peruvian citizens into the Russian army and is treating these actions as a possible case of human trafficking. According to official figures, law enforcement agencies have already received 36 reports of people going missing and their likely forced participation in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that it has sent at least 247 official enquiries to Russia regarding its citizens. Meanwhile, Percy Salinas, the lawyer representing the families of those recruited, estimates that a total of around 800 Peruvian citizens may have been conscripted into the Russian army.
It should be recalled that it was previously reported that Russian authorities are increasingly discussing the possibility of a new wave of mobilisation due to a shortage of personnel for the war against Ukraine.
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