Russia’s security service on Friday said it had detained two Colombian citizens for fighting on Ukraine’s side, in the first such case made public since the beginning of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion.
The extradition and arrest is likely designed to spook other foreigners who might consider joining Ukraine’s armed forces, as well as underscoring Russia’s alliance with countries such as strongman leader Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela.
The two men, Alexander Ante and José Aron Medina, joined a foreign legion in Ukraine in summer 2023, local Colombian and other Spanish-language media reported.
According to those reports, the men were detained in mid- July by Venezuelan law enforcement on their way back home during a layover in Caracas, and then extradited to Russia.
In an online statement, Russia’s FSB said the men were found to be carrying documents “confirming unlawful activity” and clothing connected to Carpathian Sich, a battalion which includes foreign fighters in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, a Moscow court placed the men in pre-trial detention in Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison while they are investigated for paid participation in an armed conflict, which in Russia carries a maximum sentence of up to 15 years behind bars.
The FSB also published a video of the two men being led down a corridor with their heads down, and identifying themselves on camera, presumably under duress.
Russia, meanwhile, is itself actively recruiting mercenaries abroad for its own war effort against Ukraine, including in Cuba and India, with promises of sky-high salaries and fast-tracked Russian citizenship.
The Russian state also maintains close links to Russian mercenary groups, such as Wagner, which — as well as fighting in Ukraine — is especially active in Africa.