The Indian government is trying to bring home about 20,000 of its citizens who are participating in the war against Ukraine as part of the Russian criminal army.
How did thousands of Indian citizens end up in the Russian occupation army?
According to the journalists of the publication, relatives of Indian citizens who are fighting on the side of the Russian army in Ukraine got there under pretences.
It is noted that the Indian government is very concerned after the widespread publication in the local media of the stories of citizens of the country who joined the ranks of the criminal army of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
We have withdrawn some of them and now we are working on withdrawing others, — India's MFA reps told the journalists of the publication.
The ministry assured that they are actively dealing with all cases related to Indian citizens in the war against Ukraine, trying to release them early from the ranks of the Russian army.
According to many relatives, their loved ones were lured into the occupation army of the Russian Federation in Ukraine by promises of well-paid work for the occupiers away from the front line.
Hindus were also promised a place to live in Russia closer to the EU border.
According to Mohammed Imran from Hyderabad, in southern India, his brother Mohammed Asfan, 30, believed Kremlin recruiters' promises of a well-paid job in the Russian army in Moscow and receiving permanent residency in less than a year.
Mohammed Imran said he would go to Russia in search of his brother.
He noted that his brother arrived in Moscow last November. There, he signed some contract in Russian, and already in December, he went to the front and disappeared.
Mohammed Imran said that in January, one of his brother's colleagues, who also worked in the army, reported that Asfan had been shot in the leg.
Hindus in the Russian army in Ukraine are begging for help to return home
In addition, a group of men from the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, who travelled to Russia for the New Year, sent a video to their relatives calling on the authorities for urgent help.
In the video, one of them claims that they were misled by a person who offered to show them around and that they ended up in Belarus, where they were "handed over to the Russian army" for entering the country without a visa.
They are going to send us to the front, please help us to return to India urgently, — one of the men, Gurpreet Singh, told his own brother.
According to the Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent group of observers of Russian military conscription, groups of people from several developing countries have been observed in the ranks of the Russian army.
Most foreigners are lured into the ranks of the Russian Federation's criminal army by promises of a high salary of about 2,000 dollars per month, which is the amount Russian contractors receive.
This figure is significant compared to average salaries in countries such as Cuba and Nepal, although CIT doubts how much is paid. However, the total number of foreign recruits is small.
It can be several thousand people from all countries. This does not greatly affect the number of Russian combat forces, analysts emphasise.
Journalists and volunteers counted slightly more than 250 foreign citizens who died in Ukraine as part of Russian forces as of Dec. 2023.
Among them were citizens of Nepal, Iraq and Zambia, but the vast majority were from the countries of the former Soviet bloc.
Many Central Asians come to Russia as migrant workers, and there have been reports of men from those countries being forced to sign contracts with the Russian army.
Russia is also seeking to attract foreigners to its armed forces, offering a simplified path to citizenship for those who sign a one-year contract with the army. The law was introduced in September 2022, six months after the start of a full-scale war against Ukraine.
