5 youths from Punjab, 1 from Haryana discharged by Russian Army returning home tonight

Six Indian nationals serving in the Russian Army have been discharged and are arriving home on Tuesday night.

Five of these Indians are from Punjab and one from Haryana.

In all, 89 Indian nationals are serving in the Russian Army.

The return of six youths from Russia comes in the wake of India strongly taking up the matter of discharge of its nationals from the Russian Army.

During his recent visit to Russia in July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly reiterated the urgent need for early release of all Indian

nationals from the Russian armed forces.

It was after PM's visit that the discharge was expedited, with six youths returning to Delhi on Tuesday night and 10 more, discharged from conflict zones, also expected to arrive in a few days.

The Ministry of External Affairs data show that while 13 Indian nationals have already left the Russian armed forces, 66 more are seeking early discharge.

Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who has been flagging the issue in Parliament, on Tuesday said he was in touch with the youths who are returning and their families.

The six youths who arrived home tonight are Sajanpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Karan Bhandari, Avinash Masih and Sehyad Singh from Punjab and Rajat Gupta from Haryana.

Sahney said this was the first batch of Indian nationals returning after being discharged by the Russian Army.