Currently, two soldiers hailing from Colombia, who had previously fought on the side of Ukraine, are detained in Moscow. Their journey led them here via an unexpected route through Venezuela which supposedly handed them over to Russian authorities. The detention of these Colombian men in Moscow took place following their sudden vanishing in Venezuela, a known ally of Russia and a Colombian neighbor, where they had arrived the previous month.
On Friday, a video was released by the Russian state media exhibiting the Russian secret police conducting an inquisitorial session with the two Colombian individuals, Alejandro Ante and José Medina. These soldiers reportedly served within the Ukrainian Armed Forces for eight to ten months. In a separate preceding, the Moscow court ruled that both Mr. Ante and Mr. Medina be taken into custody on the charges of mercenary actions, which is a violation of both Russian and international law.
Family members of the two detained Colombian servicemen have verified to The New York Times that the individuals dragged through a corridor by security forces and subsequently interrogated in the released video are truly Mr. Ante and Mr. Medina. So far, there has been a lack of commentary from the Venezuelan government on the alleged detention and extradition of the Colombian soldiers, with their foreign ministry maintaining silence in response to requests for comment.
Despite official inquiries from Colombia about the location of Mr. Ante and Mr. Medina over the past month, the Venezuelan government has refrained from offering a response, according to two diplomatic letters acquired by The New York Times. Russia has been a long-time ally of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, as he faces off against the United States regarding his government’s autocratic tendencies.
Nevertheless, Maduro has also worked towards maintaining cordial relations with Colombia’s left-leaning president, Gustavo Petro, whose ideology is on par with the supposedly socialist government of Venezuela. Both Russia and Ukraine have endeavored to penalize foreign recruits who have joined the adversary, as a means to uplift the spirits among their own people and discourage others from joining opposing forces.
This marks a first instance of foreign fighters involved in the Ukrainian conflict facing allegations related to their service after being taken into custody in a third country. In the war, Russia and Ukraine have routinely sought the assistance of thousands of foreigners to strengthen their exhausted forces. Numerous retired Colombian soldiers have journeyed to Ukraine since the beginning of the war, accepting an offer to fight for Kyiv for roughly $3,000 per month. This amount surpasses what they could otherwise earn in their homeland using their skills, a factor reflected by interviews with a handful of Colombian recruits and their kin.
The Colombian servicemen, Mr. Ante and Mr. Medina, had reportedly served within the Carpathian Sich 49th Infantry Battalion, one of the two key postings for recruits from Latin America in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the early stages of the conflict, a court within Russian-dominated Ukraine had ordered death penalties for two British nationals and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine. The sentences were eventually not executed, and these prisoners were later repatriated through a prisoner exchange.
Since that time, Russian authorities have usually conducted trials of Ukraine’s foreign soldiers in absentia. Ukraine has adopted a similar strategy towards foreign fighters captured while fighting for Russia. In one noteworthy instance, a Brazilian individual was convicted by a Ukrainian court on charges of terrorism before he was eventually repatriated back to Brazil.
Legal experts observe the ambiguity of international law regarding the legality of foreign individuals, like Mr. Medina and Mr. Ante, participating in wars in distant lands. Such people partly conform to the definition of mercenaries, who are prohibited under the Geneva Convention, as being primarily motivated by financial gains and lacking affiliations to the warring nations.
As the foreign fighters in Ukraine belong to regular armed forces and receive equivalent payments and benefits like Ukrainian citizens, the Ukrainian government asserts them as legal combatants. On top of the Geneva Convention, Russian law specifically prohibits mercenaries. Despite this, the Kremlin has significantly depended on private military organizations to bounce back from the invasion’s setbacks two years ago, even recruiting extensively from countries like Cuba, Nepal, and Syria since last year.
The reliance of Russia on mercenaries came to light last year when Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenaries, orchestrated a rebellion and directed his troops towards Moscow. However, his life ended in a plane crash a few months later. Back in Colombia, the families of Mr. Medina and Mr. Ante are in a state of waiting, still anxious to learn the fates of their loved ones. A specific expectation was for Mr. Medina to return to his family on his birthday, July 19. One of the last messages he received was an image captured by his wife, Ms. Paz, displaying a festive birthday table decorated with balloons and a sign.
A representative from the Colombian Embassy in Moscow revealed on Friday that they learned about the former soldiers’ predicament from news reports. They are still awaiting a response from the Russian foreign ministry regarding the status of these men.
The reticence of the Russian and Venezuelan governments poses a diplomatic quandary for Mr. Petro’s administration, according to Mr. Rouvinski, a professor of political science. Since becoming president in 2022, Mr. Petro has aimed to retain Colombia’s position as a prominent ally of the United States in South America.
However, he has also tried to maintain neutrality on the issue of Russia’s invasion, even after a Russian offensive harmed several eminent Colombian intellectuals visiting Ukraine. Resolving this intricate issue will offer a significant test to his diplomatic skills and strategic vision.