Chennai
\nAt least a dozen Indians have been duped by agents into fighting for Russian forces in the country\u2019s war with Ukraine with reports saying one of them was killed in a missile strike.
\nHemal Ashwinbhai from Gujarat state died in a missile attack last week, The Hindu newspaper reported over the weekend. Hemal\u2019s father had told the BBC on 23 February that he spoke to his son three days ago. He said that he was posted 20-22km (12-13 miles) inside Ukraine\u2019s border and called him every few days when he got access to the mobile network.
\nThe distraught families of the remaining men have now appealed to the federal government to get them back home.
\nThe duped men, aged between 22 and 31 and hired as \u201chelpers in the military establishment in Russia,\u201d were allegedly sent to the battlefield under the pretext of \u201ctraining,\u201d according to their families.
\nIndian sources in Russia suggest dozens of Indians have joined the Russian army. However, a Russian defence ministry source informed The Hindu that the actual number recruited in the past year is approximately 100. The BBC has reached out to the Russian Embassy in Delhi, but there has been no response yet.
\nIndia\u2019s foreign ministry has acknowledged \u201cthat some Indian nationals have enlisted for support roles with the Russian army\u201d.
\n\u201cEach and every such case brought to the attention of the Indian Embassy in Moscow has been strongly taken up with the Russian authorities and those brought to the attention of the ministry have been taken up with the Russian Embassy in New Delhi. Several Indians have already been discharged as a result,\u201d the ministry said in a statement.
\nThe ministry also urged \u201call Indian nationals to exercise due caution and stay away from this conflict\u201d.
\nVideos of some of the men, explaining how they were tricked by agents and sent to the battlefield have shocked their families, all of whom are poor\u2013their parents and siblings are either tuk-tuk drivers, tea sellers or handcart sellers.
\nVictims and families allege agents demanded 300,000 rupees ($3,619; \u00a32,857), promising a Russian passport after a few months of army service. Agents reportedly recruit people from India, UAE, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, with fees reaching up to 1.2m rupees.
\nThe BBC spoke to some of their relatives, who say the men were lured by the promise of higher salaries and didn\u2019t know what they were getting into. The identities of the men still in Russia are not being revealed to protect them.
\n\u201cMy 28-year-old son worked in a packaging company in Dubai. He, along with three friends, saw an agent\u2019s video offering jobs in Russia with a promised salary of 90,000 to 100,000 rupees, compared to their current earnings of 35,000 to 40,000 rupees. They paid the agent 300,000 rupees through loans. Please help bring my son back,\u201d his father, who sells tea and eggs on a handcart in the state of Karnataka told BBC Hindi, breaking down on the phone.
\nHis story mirrors those of others from the states of Telangana, Gujarat, Kashmir, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, all allegedly deceived. Only one person has successfully escaped Moscow and returned home.
\nOne man from Uttar Pradesh speaking from a safe location in Moscow in a video shot in end-January said that they were \u201cwere brought here by BabaVlog [a YouTube channel run by an Indian], and promised a salary of 150,000 rupees [a month]. We were not told that we are being drafted in an army.\u201d The BBC reached out to the channel but didn\u2019t receive a response.
\nThose allegedly deceived lack war combat experience with one man from Uttar Pradesh, dressed in army fatigues, stating in a video message that he was recruited through a social media platform.
\n\u201cIn Moscow, we signed a contract in Russian and unwittingly became soldiers sent to fight in the war. We\u2019ve been deceived,\u201d says the man, claiming that he and two other Indians have suffered combat injuries, gesturing with his seemingly injured right hand.
\n\u201cPlease get us out of this place. Otherwise, they will send us to the front. There is artillery [fire] and drones falling all over. We have zero experience in fighting a war. The agents have put us in this fix,\u201d he adds.
\nSpeaking over the phone from the Russia-Ukraine border, a man from Kashmir reported being stranded in Mariupol in Ukraine with an Indian companion and nine people from Nepal and Cuba. He said he had injured his foot during training.
\n\u201cMy commander kept saying that use your right hand to shoot, use your left hand to shoot, shoot above, shoot down,\u201d he recalled.
\n\u201cI had never touched a gun. It was extremely cold, and with the gun in my left hand, I ended up shooting my foot.\u201d
\nThe brother of one of the men said he didn\u2019t know whether the Indians were \u201cin the Wagner private army or the Russian army. They\u2019re some 40km [24 miles] from the Ukraine border. They\u2019ve been promised Russian citizenship in three months\u201d.
\nOnly Shaikh Mohammed Tahir from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, managed to avoid training or deployment in the war zone. \u201cI worked in a car battery workshop here,\u201d said the 24-year-old. He returned to India last week.
\nThe issue made headlines after Asaduddin Owaisi, a MP from Hyderabad city, raised it. On 23 January, he wrote to the foreign ministry, seeking government intervention to bring the men back home.
\nMallikarjun Kharge, leader of India\u2019s main opposition Congress party, alleged that some 100 Indians have been \u201crecruited in the Russian army as helpers\u201d in the past year.
\n\u201cShockingly, some of them been forced to fight alongside Russia\u2019s forces on the Russia-Ukraine border. Some of the workers have also said that their passports and documents had been seized, leaving them stranded and rendering them incapable to return home,\u201d he said.
\nWhen the war began in 2022, there were some reports of a few Indians volunteering to join the Ukrainian army. But the presence of Indians on the Russian side in combat roles has been reported for the first time.
\nThe BBC also spoke to an Indian in Russia who served near the Ukraine border and is no longer in the army. He said that his experience was that the Russian army was transparent and shared its contracts online. But he added that people who didn\u2019t know Russian were being deceived by agents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chennai At least a dozen Indians have been duped by agents into fighting for Russian forces in the country\u2019s war with Ukraine with reports saying one of them was killed in a missile strike. Hemal Ashwinbhai from Gujarat state died in a missile attack last week, The Hindu newspaper reported over the weekend. Hemal\u2019s father […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-389892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n