HAVANA (AP) — Cuban authorities have arrested 17 people in connection with what they described as a network to recruit Cuban nationals to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
The head of criminal investigations for Cuba’s Interior Ministry, César Rodríguez, said late Thursday on state media that at least three of the 17 arrested are part of recruitment efforts inside the island country.
He did not identify the alleged members of the network but said they had previous criminal records. Some families started speaking up about the case on Friday, and at least one mother said that her son was promised a job in construction in Russia.
Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the government had detected a network operating from Russia to recruit Cuban citizens living both in Russia and in Cuba to fight in Ukraine. It said authorities were working “to neutralize and dismantle” the network but gave no details.
Modern Russia is not the USSR or the RSFSR. If there’s any political relationship at all, I imagine that it’s fairly poor since Yeltsin helped illegally dissolve the USSR and was the person that created the modern Russian Federation that we know today.
Yeltsin illegally dissolving the USSR absolutely screwed Cuba. I’m sure they’re as friendly as they need to be to trade stuff they need, since that’s not coming from the US or their friends especially as Trump has increased sanctions, but like you said, I doubt it’s a close relationship at all.