Norma, a mother from Peru, dropped off her 31-year-old son at the airport in Lima, Peru, after he found a job as a cook for the Russian army advertised on social media. However, she soon discovered that he had joined the Russian military and was fighting on the front lines in Ukraine.

Deceptive Recruitment

Many Peruvian men, mostly from impoverished backgrounds, were lured into the Russian military with promises of high salaries and bonuses. They were allegedly deceived by local recruiters and social media ads, who promised them jobs as security guards or cooks in Russia.

CNN spoke to twelve families who have been protesting outside the Russian embassy in Lima and the Peruvian Foreign Affairs Ministry, seeking answers on their relatives’ whereabouts. The families claim that their loved ones were promised jobs in Russia but ended up fighting in Ukraine.

Investigation Underway

The Peruvian government has launched an investigation into the recruitment of Peruvian citizens by the Russian military. The public prosecutor’s office has received 36 complaints from Peruvian citizens who claim that their relatives or friends were deceived into fighting in Ukraine.

Pedro Bravo, director of Peruvian Communities Abroad at Peru’s Foreign Ministry, stated that many recruits ‘have limited resources and are in dire need’ of funds. ‘They don’t have a very clear understanding of the international reality,’ Bravo said. ‘It’s much easier to deceive them.’

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.