Eighteen Peruvian citizens who were deceived into traveling to Russia and forced to fight against Ukraine have returned home over the past two weeks, radio RPP reported, citing Peru’s Foreign Ministry.
One more Peruvian is set to return on May 3, the ministry said, and six others will arrive on May 4 as part of ongoing consular protection efforts.
Two citizens who sought help from the Peruvian Embassy in Moscow are still awaiting repatriation under diplomatic protection. “This matter will be definitively resolved in the coming days,” the Foreign Ministry said.
In early May, Peru’s prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation into possible human trafficking after receiving hundreds of complaints from relatives of citizens reported missing in Russia. Peruvians were lured there with promises of work across various fields, including positions connected to the armed forces — jobs advertised as security guards, engineers, cooks, and taxi drivers, described as unrelated to frontline service. Once in Russia, they were pressured into signing documents in Russian, had their papers confiscated, and were put through brief military training before being sent to the front.
Lawyers representing relatives of the missing say around 600 Peruvians have gone to Russia under this scheme since October 2025. At least 13 have already been killed in the Russia-Ukraine war.
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