Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal confirmed on February 29 that about 20 of his country's citizens were "trapped" in the Russian army and that efforts were being made to rescue them. Some Indian recruits said they were lured into joining the Russian army with promises of high salaries and Russian passports, before being sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
Hemal Ashwinbhai, from the Indian state of Gujarat, was confirmed dead last week in a missile strike in the Ukraine war zone. In his last conversation with his family, he said he was deployed in a war zone in Ukraine, about 20-22 km from the Russian border.
Hemal was brought to Russia by a broker in December 2023 and immediately signed a contract with the Russian military. He was assigned to the same unit as Sameer Ahmad, 23, from the Indian state of Karnataka.
Ahmad said Hemil was hit by a missile while practicing shooting about 150 meters away.
An Indian citizen from Chennai is interviewed while serving in the Russian army. Photo: BBC
Another witness said the military facility was attacked on February 21, when at least four Indian nationals were taking part in training. Hemil was described as “close to the Russian commanders, so he was trusted and did not have to do manual work”.
The Ukrainian military claimed to have launched two missiles at a Russian training camp in the eastern battlefield on February 21, killing about 60 “Russian servicemen”.
Indian media reported dozens of other cases similar to Hemal, aged 22-31, stuck in the Ukrainian battlefield. They were initially contracted by recruitment brokers to serve the Russian army in “support work”, but were eventually deployed to the war zone under training orders.
India's foreign ministry said last week it had intervened with Russian authorities to help some of its citizens get demobilized, but many more cases still needed to be processed.
"All cases reported to the Indian embassy in Moscow and the Ministry of External Affairs have been discussed directly with the Russian authorities," the agency said, advising all citizens to be vigilant and stay away from the conflict zone.
Those who sign contracts with the Russian military are mostly from poor families and are manual laborers. Brokers often offer them jobs as "maids" for the military in Russia, with a typical fee of 300,000 rupees (more than $3,600). Brokers promise that the workers will be granted Russian passports after a few months of military service.
Similar job offers have also appeared in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Nepal and Sri Lanka, with brokerage fees sometimes reaching 1.2 million rupees (more than $14,400).
The family of an Indian national stuck in a war zone in Ukraine said their relative, a 28-year-old, saw a video advertising jobs in Russia while working in Dubai. Lured by the offer of 90,000-100,000 rupees, two to three times the normal salary, the man and three friends paid 300,000 rupees to a broker and went to Russia, where they were stuck in the conflict zone.
Similar cases have been reported in the Indian states of Telangana, Gujarat, Kashmir, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. All said they were tricked into taking jobs by brokers that were different from what they had been told. At least one case successfully escaped from Moscow and returned to India.
An Indian national from Uttar Pradesh who is hiding in Moscow said he went to Russia to work on an advertisement on YouTube channel BabaVlog with a promise of a salary of 150,000 rupees. However, when he arrived in Russia, he realized he had to work in the army.
Another man, also from Uttar Pradesh, said he was taken to Moscow, signed a contract in Russian and “became a soldier against his will.” He said he and two compatriots were wounded in the fighting, but did not specify the area of operation.
"Please take us away from here, otherwise they will push us to the front line. There is constant shelling and drone attacks here. The broker has deceived us, even though we have never been in combat," the man pleaded with the media.
Russian soldiers fire artillery on the Ukrainian battlefield in December 2023. Photo: TASS
A young Indian man from Kashmir said he was sent to the city of Mariupol with 10 foreigners. He said he had injured his leg during training on the training ground.
"The commander told me to practice shooting with both my left and right hands, shooting randomly. I had never touched a gun before. It was terribly cold. When I practiced holding the gun with my left hand, I shot myself in the leg," he recounted.
His relatives also do not know whether he was recruited "as a Wagner mercenary or to serve the Russian army". They only know that he was promised Russian citizenship after three months of work.
However, there are also cases of Indian workers going to Russia to work for the army without being deployed to the Ukrainian battlefield.
Shaikh Mohammed Tahir, 24, who lives in Gujarat state, returned to India from Russia last week. He said he was only working in a car battery factory after arriving in Russia on the advice of a broker and was not asked to go to a training ground or a war zone.
A man who worked near the Ukrainian border also confirmed that the Russian military was transparent with him from the beginning and sent him contracts online in advance. He said that those who were deployed to war zones were probably deceived by brokers who took advantage of their lack of Russian language skills.
The issue of Indians being tricked into going to the Ukrainian battlefield began to stir up controversy in Indian politics last month, after Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs asking the government to intervene and protect its citizens.
Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Indian National Congress (INC), claimed that around 100 citizens in 2023 were recruited as "helpers in the Russian army".
"What is surprising is that some of them were asked to fight alongside Russian soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine border area. Workers said their passports and identity documents were confiscated and they could not return home or go anywhere else," Mallikarjun said.
Thanh Danh (According to BBC, Hindu )
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