After his invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly issued several decrees to allow foreigners who serve for Russia’s army to receive citizenship through a fast-track procedure.

That has led to hundreds of Cubans participating – sometimes forcibly – in the two-year-plus war, the head of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said Monday.

In an op-ed for The Miami Herald, Andriy Yermak claimed Russia is secretly recruiting and trafficking the citizens of one of its closest allies, which is “the latest evidence that its disastrous invasion of Ukraine is not going well.”

Yermak claimed Russia is deceiving Cubans with job offers, with Cubans only finding out it’s a ruse so they can be lured to Moscow to serve in the army. He told the story of 27-year-old Dannys Castillo, who traveled to Russia after being offered a job in construction. His family said Castillo was looking to escape the economic stagnation that has crippled Cuba. Castillo’s mother, Marilin Vincent, reportedly was surprised when she saw photographs of her son on social media in Russian military fatigues.

“The bogus job offer was a carrot dangled to entice him over to Russia,” Yermak wrote. “In reality, her son had fallen prey to the close cooperation between the governments of Russia and Cuba.”

A wave of Cubans has enlisted in the Russia army, lured by salaries as high as $2,000, much higher than they could earn at home, The Wall Street Journal reported in February. Ambassador Ruslan Spirin, Ukraine’s special representative to Latin America and the Caribbean, said the government believes that about 400 Cubans are fighting in the country.

“The hundreds of Cuban troops sent to Ukraine, including confirmed reports of military officers as well as many with military backgrounds among them, are due directly to the close collaboration the Cuban government has with the shameful Russia, which invaded Ukraine two years ago,” Yermak wrote.

In September, multiple media outlets reported that Cuban authorities said they arrested 17 people on charges related to a ring of human traffickers that lured young Cuban men to serve in the Russian military amid the Ukraine conflict.

At the time, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said his country rejected the participation of its citizens as mercenaries in war. Yermak wrote that contradicted a statement by Julio Antonio Garmendia Peña, Cuba’s ambassador to Russia, who said Cuba did not oppose its citizens legally participating in Putin’s “special military operation.”

Yermak cited that as among many examples that “clearly indicated the pro-Moscow bias in the invasion of Ukraine by the Cuban government.” Cuba’s communist regime has had long-standing ties with Russia and the Soviet Union since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959.

“Many of the repressive tactics used in Cuba — including surveillance, beatings and arbitrary detention — were imported from Soviet Russia and are still used by Moscow today,” Yermak wrote. “It is likely that many Cubans and others in Latin American may not even be aware of such horrors. And I hope that doubters in Latin America begin to open their eyes.

“I really want to believe that Latin American countries, whose proud and courageous nations also suffered from repression, will join the fight against lies and propaganda. I urge Cubans on the island not to join this genocide effort against a peaceful people who have never brought harm to them.”

Newsmax reached out to the Russian and Cuban foreign ministries for comment.

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