Multiple cases of Indian men coming to Russia for work or tourism before being coerced to join the war against Ukraine and, in some cases, dying in battle have appeared in the media in the past few days.
Russia's war against Ukraine resulted in heavy casualties for the Russian military. Seeking to limit unpopular conscription among the domestic population, Moscow has been attracting foreign recruits from countries in Central or South Asia and elsewhere.
Seven young men from the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana appealed to Indian authorities for help earlier this week in a video shared on the social platform X.
The group of men, dressed in military-style attire, claimed they left for Russia on Dec. 27, 2023, for the New Year's celebrations. Their travel agent offered to take them to Belarus without visas, where he subsequently abandoned them, an Indian man talking in the video said, according to the NDTV news channel.
Local police allegedly handed them over to Russian authorities, who made them sign documents and join the military to fight in Ukraine, NDTV reported on March 6.
"They were forced to join the army there since the documents which they signed in Belarus were in the Russian language. It said they either accept imprisonment for 10 years or join the Russian army," a relative of one of the men in the video claimed.
According to NDTV, nearly two dozen Indians are reportedly stranded in Russia or on the front line in Ukraine, all saying they had been tricked into military service. Other estimates say that the real numbers go into the hundreds.
Some Indian citizens have even been reportedly killed in battle. Hemil Mangukiya, a 23-year-old from the Indian state of Gujarat, left for Russia to look for work last December, The Guardian reported on March 7.
The man's family said that early this year, they had received a call that Mangukiya was killed in a missile strike in Ukraine.
Another Indian, Mohammad Afsan, also reportedly died on the front line after traveling for a job in Moscow last November.
"He had no idea he was being sent to a war zone," said his brother Mohammad Imran, according to The Guardian.
"We are aware... the Indian Embassy has taken up their early discharge with the relevant Russian authorities. We urge all Indians to stay away from this conflict," a spokesperson of the Indian government told NDTV.
India's neighbor, Nepal, stopped issuing work permits for its citizens to work in Russia in January after growing numbers of Nepalese fighters have been reported killed fighting for the Russian army in Ukraine.
The U.K.'s Defense Ministry reported in September 2023 that Russia was trying to recruit foreigners and migrant workers to avoid announcing another mobilization drive before the presidential election, which is to be held in 2024.
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