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Two Colombian soldiers arrested in Russia after returning to Caracas from Ukraine
Medina shared his location as he was stopping at the Venezuelan capital’s airport from Madrid. That was the last time their family had contact with them.
Two Colombian soldiers who had fought alongside Ukrainian troops against Russia have been arrested in Moscow after mysteriously disappearing on their way home. José Alon Medina Aranda and Alexandre Ante were last seen on July 18 in Caracas after arriving from Madrid, and a video showed them being arrested in Russia, where they were accused of being mercenaries.
The two soldiers, from the Colombian province of Cauca, fought in Ukraine for eight to ten months and left for home on July 18, flying from Warsaw to Madrid. From Madrid, Medina sent his wife a video of himself in military uniform, preparing to leave for Caracas. A few hours later, he shared his location at the airport in the Venezuelan capital. That was the last time their family had contact with them. Their flight to Bogota was scheduled to take off on July 19, but they never boarded.
The Russian and Venezuelan governments are close allies, and President Vladimir Putin was one of the few leaders to recognize the re-election of Nicolas Maduro after the July 28 election, whose legitimacy has been widely questioned by the international community.
We have been reporting the disappearance of these two Colombian soldiers in Caracas (Venezuela) since July 18, and they are now in a Russian prison. @CancilleriaCol He must answer why he did not do something for the rights of his two fellow countrymen. pic.twitter.com/fXGmJvNXBR
— José Jaime Uzcategui (@jjUscategui) August 30, 2024
Concerns grew when Medina and Ante’s families lost contact with them, and they turned to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for help. On July 25, the Colombian Embassy in Caracas wrote to the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking if the two soldiers were detained by Venezuelan authorities. The embassy requested consular access in the event that the soldiers were detained, but received a vague response on August 5, stating that the request had been forwarded to the relevant national authorities, without providing further details.
The situation became even more worrying when on August 15 the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that they were still waiting for a response from the Venezuelan authorities, but that no progress had been made. Finally, on Friday, a video emerged showing Medina and Ante being detained in Moscow. In the video, authenticated by the soldiers’ families, the two men can be seen being detained by Russian servicemen, who give their names and indicate the Ukrainian battalion they fight in. The video also shows their personal documents, including identity cards, military manuals, driver’s licenses and bank cards.
Colombian congressman Jose Jaime Uzcategui, a vocal critic of President Gustavo Petro’s government, shared the video on social media, accusing Colombia’s foreign ministry of ignoring the rights of the two Colombian nationals. Uzcategui, known for his strong opposition to Petro’s government, has called on the government to take more decisive action to secure the soldiers’ release.
The soldiers’ arrests highlight the complex and dangerous situation facing foreign fighters in Ukraine, especially Colombians who have joined the fight against Russia after one of the world’s longest-running armed conflicts. As the war rages and Ukraine needs reinforcements, it has welcomed foreign fighters, including many Colombians. According to Catalina Gómez Ángel, a journalist who has reported extensively in Ukraine, the number of Colombian fighters has increased due to more flexible recruitment rules and the spread of information among veterans through WhatsApp groups.
The incident also revealed the Colombian government’s ambiguous stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Petro usually avoids criticizing Russia directly, often calling for a “peace deal” between the two countries but not recognizing the identity of the aggressor. However, Petro did condemn Russia a year ago after an attack on a restaurant in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, injured Colombian nationals, including former peace commissioner Sergio Jaramillo and writer Hector Abad Facholins. The attack, which killed Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, led to a rare criticism of Russia by Petro, who accused it of violating the rules of war.
In June, Petro further demonstrated his reluctance to engage in the conflict by canceling his participation in a peace summit in Switzerland, where he was scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Petro said he made the sudden decision because of the summit’s connection to the war, and stressed that Colombia and most Latin American countries did not support prolonging the conflict.
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