Peruvian Is Accused of Trafficking Dozens of Peruvians to Russia's Front Line

Vidal Isaac Lavado Zavala is accused of recruiting Peruvians with false job offers in Russia and putting them on flights toward the war against Ukraine, according to an investigation by Peru's Cuarto Poder and court reporting by Caretas. He has not been convicted yet; a Lima prosecutor's office specializing in human-trafficking crimes has an active case against him. Cuarto Poder published a detailed investigation on Lavado's recruitment operation on YouTube: 

The Recruiter

Lavado presented himself as a retired military contractor, claiming two stints in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom - roughly 2005 to 2008 and 2018 to 2020 - and produced a commendation certificate to back the story, according to Cuarto Poder, which reviewed messages and documents recovered from his phone. He used that background to build trust, telling recruits he had gone to war himself and come home with money. His recruitment messages, reviewed by the program, promised fully paid flights with no repayment required, provided housing, three meals a day, cigarettes, and an Android phone, for what was described as security-guard or waiter work, at a monthly salary of $2,000. Recruits organized in messaging groups were addressed like a unit - told to report to Lima's Jorge Chávez airport with a 10-kilogram bag and heavy winter clothing, and responding "recibido," "copiado," and "comando."

According to Caretas, Lavado was arrested on September 7, 2026, during a police raid on his home in the Ate district, and a Lima North prosecutor specializing in trafficking crimes, Luisa Inés Quispe Asmat, secured 14 months of preventive detention against him on suspicion of human trafficking. Cuarto Poder's investigation says he is one of several such recruiters operating from Peru; Caretas reports his case is one of at least 22 active prosecutorial investigations covering more than 300 Peruvian nationals recruited with false job offers to Russia.

The Men He Sent

Cuarto Poder identified footage from Lavado's phone showing him at Jorge Chávez airport on April 9 seeing off a group of recruits that included Adrián Alberto Torres Fuertes, 39, Héctor Argote, and Roberto Roncal. Their route ran Lima to São Paulo to Dubai to Moscow. According to the men's own messages home, once in Russia they were held in hotels, had their phones confiscated to cut off contact with family, given only a few days of training, and sent to the front.

Torres Fuertes told his family the offer had been a lie - that what he'd signed up for was conscription, not security work, and that there was no way to leave once inside. On May 20, he told his sister he was being taken to the front line and would call within 45 days; as of the broadcast, roughly five months had passed with no further word. In his last known message, he named Lavado directly as "the connection," said he was about four hours from Ukraine, and said roughly 40 other Peruvians were with him, their fates also unknown. Argote, in a message dated June 3, said he was among more than 150 Peruvians in the same situation asking for help.

Families Waiting

Torres Fuertes's sister, Maribel Yolanda Torres Fuertes, filed the initial trafficking complaint in April, saying her brother had been recruited through a Facebook job offer by a man using the name "Vidal." The broadcast closes on Toreses mother message: "The only thing he said was to come back. I want you here, because I really need you."

If Your Relative Went to Russia and Went Quiet

Families searching for a relative who traveled to Russia for what they were told was civilian work, and have since lost contact, can file a search request through Ukraine's "I Want to Find" project; our FAQ on what to do if you've lost contact with a relative in Russia covers the same steps in more detail. Anyone still in Russia's armed forces who wants out has a safe option through Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project - see our FAQ on how to safely surrender to Ukrainian forces.