Bolivia probes trafficking of recruits for Russia’s war

July 16 (UPI) — Bolivia’s Attorney General’s Office said it has opened three investigations into an alleged human trafficking network that allegedly deceived Bolivian citizens with fraudulent job offers to take them to Russia and recruit them to participate in the war against Ukraine.

Senior prosecutor Alejandra Rocha said during a press conference Thursday that the investigations stem from one complaint filed in May and another in July, along with a third from several families in the Santa Cruz department.

Prosecutors have identified 16 alleged victims: one in the first case, six in the second and nine in the third, Rocha said.

Rocha said the case is being investigated provisionally as human trafficking for the purpose of recruiting people to participate in armed conflicts and that, given its characteristics, could constitute a transnational crime.

He said the investigation aims to establish the route followed by the alleged victims, identify those who contacted them and determine whether the recruitment is part of a criminal organization operating in several countries.

Prosecutors have issued requests to telecommunications companies, travel agencies and immigration authorities to reconstruct the victims’ movements within Bolivia and through transit and destination countries.

In addition, the Attorney General’s Office activated international cooperation mechanisms through its International Affairs Unit and asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain information on Bolivian citizens who may be in Russia.

Rocha said Bolivia also has begun to coordinate with prosecutors’ offices in other countries in the region, including Peru, Colombia and Venezuela, to determine whether the same recruitment pattern is being used by criminal organizations operating internationally.

Meanwhile, Bolivia’s Special Force to Fight Crime is conducting a separate investigation into alleged human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Santa Cruz Police Commander David Gómez said one of the alleged recruiters has been identified, and that investigators are working to determine whether other intermediaries were involved, El Diario reported.

Police also carried out an operation in the community of Rincón de Palometas, where several young people allegedly were recruited through false job promises before traveling to Russia.

Investigators are seeking to determine whether an organized illegal recruitment network exists, Los Tiempos reported.

The Attorney General’s Office also asked Bolivia’s Financial System Supervisory Authority to trace bank transactions related to payments allegedly received by the victims and is conducting cyber patrols to identify the origin of advertisements circulated on social media, Unitel reported.

According to complaints filed by relatives, recruiters offered contracts with payments of up to $16,000 under the promise of jobs in areas such as construction and painting. However, once the citizens arrived in Russia, they ended up involved in the war, according to information provided to prosecutors.

A mother from the community of Rincón de Palometas said she even recorded on video the man she identified as the alleged recruiter when five young men left for Brazil before continuing on to Russia.

According to her account, the man assured her that her son was traveling only to work and not to participate in military operations, El Diario reported.

The woman said that after losing contact with her son, she contacted the alleged recruiter again, who asked her to hire a lawyer and provide $1,000 for supposed legal procedures, money the family did not have, according to the same newspaper.

Vice Minister of Consular and Institutional Management Héctor Huanca said Bolivia has activated consular assistance and protection mechanisms through its embassy in Russia, and that authorities are still awaiting an official response regarding reports of the possible deaths of two Bolivian citizens.

The Russian Embassy in Bolivia denied any involvement in an alleged system for recruiting Bolivian citizens and said it has no ties to individuals or organizations engaged in such activities.

Ambassador Dmitry Vérchenko also said the diplomatic mission has no knowledge of any recruitment mechanism operating in Bolivia, El Diario reported.

Ukraine’s consul in Brazil, Heorhii Erman, denied that Ukraine recruits Bolivian citizens, and said Russian authorities use deceptive employment contracts to attract foreigners to participate in the war. People should verify the origin of any job offer before accepting it, he told the newspaper.