On October 2, 2025, a confidential cable from the U.S. State Department landed in embassies and consulates across the globe, carrying a message that could reshape longstanding international dynamics: the United States, under President Donald Trump, was calling on its allies to reject the annual United Nations resolution demanding an end to the embargo on Cuba. The reasoning, as revealed by Reuters, was as stark as it was controversial—the U.S. accused Cuba of being a key supporter of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, not just in words but in action, by allegedly sending thousands of Cuban mercenaries to fight under the Russian flag.
The cable, which was unclassified but marked for internal distribution, stated, “After North Korea, Cuba is the largest contributor of foreign troops to Russia’s aggression, with an estimated 1,000 to 5,000 Cubans fighting in Ukraine.” The document, as cited by Reuters, accused the Cuban government of failing to protect its own citizens, allowing them to be used as “pawns in the war between Russia and Ukraine,” and aligning itself with the Kremlin politically, militarily, and in terms of propaganda.
For decades, the annual UN vote on the U.S. embargo against Cuba has been a diplomatic ritual. Since 1992, the resolution has called on Washington to lift the trade embargo imposed after Fidel Castro’s revolution. The vote in 2024 saw 187 countries in favor, with only the U.S. and Israel opposed, and Moldova abstaining. But this year, the Trump administration is pushing to erode that near-unanimous support, aiming to expose what it calls the “hypocrisy” of the Cuban regime—portraying itself as a victim of sanctions while allegedly collaborating with Vladimir Putin’s military machine.
“The Trump Administration will not remain on the sidelines nor support an illegitimate regime that undermines our national security interests in our region,” a State Department spokesperson declared in an email to Reuters. The cable instructed U.S. diplomats to share details about the recruitment of Cubans for the Russian army and to highlight the growing defense, intelligence, and air transport ties between Havana and Moscow. Talking points included not just military collaboration, but also accusations of corruption, human rights violations, and misappropriation of resources by the Cuban government.
The U.S. position has been bolstered by reports from the Ukrainian project “I Want to Live,” which has published lists containing over a thousand names of Cubans allegedly fighting on the eastern front. Ukrainian military intelligence estimates that as many as 25,000 Cubans have been recruited since 2023, with recruitment centers spanning Ryazan, Belarus, and Cuba itself, reportedly involving both Russian and Cuban intermediaries. According to Forbes, a European diplomatic source commented, “Havana cannot claim ignorance. In a country where no one travels without state control, silence is complicity.”
Despite these mounting allegations, Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations has not issued a formal response. However, on September 27, 2025, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla addressed the General Assembly, denouncing the U.S. embargo as a “genocidal blockade” and accusing Washington of using the issue of drug trafficking as a “ridiculous pretext” to justify continued aggression against Cuba and Venezuela. The State Department cable, however, insists that the Cuban resolution “incorrectly blames” the United States for the island’s economic crisis, attributing it instead to “the corruption and incompetence of the regime itself.”
The U.S. has not limited its accusations to diplomatic channels. In its latest Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP 2025), published in late September, the State Department took the unprecedented step of officially classifying the recruitment of Cubans for the war in Ukraine as a form of state-sponsored human trafficking. The report asserts that the Cuban government actively facilitated the departure of its citizens for military exploitation—expediting passports, omitting exit stamps, and allowing thousands of young people to travel on “tourist” visas to Russia and Belarus, where they were then contracted by the Russian military.
Between June 2023 and February 2024 alone, more than 1,000 Cubans reportedly signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces. Many did so under false promises of work or residency, while others were lured by salaries of up to $2,000 a month—an amount unimaginable for most Cubans. According to the State Department, this system mirrors Cuba’s international medical missions, forming part of a state-controlled network of exploitation in which the government “uses coercion mechanisms, document retention, and deceit” for political and economic gain.
An expert quoted by CiberCuba summed up the shift: “The news is clear: what was once referred to as ‘recruitment networks’ is now seen as a state policy. It is no longer about isolated criminal activities, but rather direct governmental complicity.” The inclusion of Cuba in the TIP 2025 report as a state sponsor of human trafficking marks a dramatic escalation. The report calls for investigations into official responsibilities, guarantees of reparation for victims, and the removal of migration restrictions that enable this form of exploitation.
Predictably, the Cuban regime has dismissed these allegations as “political slander.” But this time, the evidentiary weight and legal classification in TIP 2025 have made it harder for Havana to brush off the charges. What might once have been dismissed as propaganda now stands as a formal accusation of state complicity in human trafficking for military purposes.
As Washington intensifies its campaign, it seeks not just to influence the UN vote but to fundamentally alter the narrative around Cuba’s role on the world stage. The message is clear: Cuba, long seen as a victim of U.S. sanctions, is now being cast as an operational ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine. And for the first time in decades, that accusation threatens to fracture the nearly unanimous support Cuba has enjoyed at the United Nations.
While the Cuban government maintains its narrative of victimhood, the U.S. is determined to spotlight what it views as direct collaboration with Russian military efforts. The coming months will reveal whether this shift in diplomatic strategy will succeed in changing international perceptions and policies—or whether it will simply harden old divisions in a world already riven by conflict and suspicion.