Norma, a Peruvian mother, last saw her son in late January when she dropped him off at an airport in Lima. He had found a job as a cook for the Russian army advertised on social media, assuring her he would be far from the war in Ukraine and have a chance at obtaining Russian citizenship.

Deceived by Local Recruiters

Many Peruvian men, often from impoverished backgrounds, have been lured into the Russian military by local recruiters and social media ads with promises of lucrative employment in Russia. However, they have ended up fighting on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

CNN spoke to twelve families who have been protesting for weeks outside of the Russian embassy in Lima and the Peruvian Foreign Affairs Ministry, waiting for answers on their relatives’ whereabouts. The stories from Peruvian recruits and their families are similar, with many men signing up on the promise of high salaries.

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.’

Rosa, a mother of three, said her 48-year-old husband traveled to Russia with several other Peruvian men, hoping to obtain jobs as security guards. However, he had no military experience before signing up through a local recruiter in Peru.

Investigation and Response

The Peruvian government has made at least 247 separate requests to Moscow for information on Peruvians in the Russian military and demanded the immediate, safe return of their fellow nationals to their home country. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating 36 complaints from Peruvian citizens who say that their relatives or friends were deceived via false job offers abroad.

Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.