Russia asked to ‘discharge’ Indians hired for combat

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, February 23

The foreign office has acknowledged that “a few” Indians had signed up for support jobs with the Russian army and that matter had been taken up with the “relevant Russian authorities for their early discharge”.

“We urge all Indian nationals to exercise due caution and stay away from this conflict,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, who, however, made no mention of Ukraine. This may have been because the issue at hand was about 18 Indians who had been duped by travel agents into joining the Russian army. Jaiswal said he made the statement in response to media queries regarding “Indians caught in conflict in Russia”. “We are aware that a few Indian nationals have signed up for support jobs with the Russian army. The Indian Embassy has regularly taken up this matter with the relevant Russian authorities for their early discharge,” he stated.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, had said he had written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar about over 15 Indians who were offered jobs of security guards in Russia by travel agents but have been forced to fight for its army instead. Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge and relatives of some of the Indians have said they were sent to Russia by recruitment agents where they were asked to join the Wagner Group.

“Unemployed men from Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir and UP were promised jobs by agents in Russia, where they were told that they would work as building security agents but were sent to the battlefield,” Owaisi had said. A couple of the men have reportedly been killed in battles. The Indians were reportedly recruited as “security helpers” with the Russian military but were compelled to join frontline combat. The Russians are also learnt to have recruited several Nepali youngster of whom at least six have died in combat.