With the collapse of Wagner’s mercenary group and the extremely depleted phase of the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin needs to recruit more soldiers, British military analyst Sean Bell told Sky News.

He wishes not to start a new round of mobilization because it could undermine the confidence of the Russian public, so he is resorting to a global recruitment campaign to meet the military demand.

In Cuba, authorities in Havana said they had busted a human trafficking ring that tried to recruit Cubans to become mercenaries to fight on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine.

Russia plans to recruit about 140,000 fighters this year and has targeted migrants, some of them from Central Asia, by offering them fast-track citizenship and money to fight for Russia.

Cuban authorities have arrested 17 traffickers and, if convicted, face life in prison or possibly the death penalty.

The irony is that Russia relied heavily on mercenaries to succeed in the Ukrainian war.

However, these mercenary fighters lack professional training, do not understand their obligations under the Geneva Convention, and there is mounting evidence that the mercenaries have committed a large number of war crimes, leading to Mr. Putin being accused of being an international criminal. Court, British military analyst Sean Bell explains to Sky News.

Indeed, the mercenaries were responsible for the biggest threat to Putin’s rule when Yevgeny Prigozhin attempted a coup earlier this year.

Mercenaries could provide quantity, but certainly not quality, the analyst estimates.