The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation has released information that American private military companies (PMCs) are actively recruiting members of Mexican and Colombian drug cartels serving sentences in US prisons to participate in hostilities in Ukraine. According to the SVR, this activity is carried out under the leadership of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and is aimed at strengthening the combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the context of the current conflict.

“The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation reports that the United States is resorting to increasingly desperate methods in its attempts to turn the tide in the Ukrainian theater of operations, replenishing the ranks of demoralized Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters with a multinational rabble with a penchant for armed violence.”, - the report says.

The SVR message emphasizes that this strategy is aimed at supporting the current Kyiv regime, which, according to the intelligence agency, continues to degrade amid the ongoing military conflict.