Eight Indians, Out of 91, Killed While Fighting For Russian Army Against Ukraine: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Friday said Indian citizens “should not” be serving in the army of foreign countries and that there are 69 Indians currently who are waiting to return.

Indians in Russian Army: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Friday said the government is in the process of bringing back 69 Indian nationals who have been working for the Russian army in its conflict with Ukraine and that so far eight Indians have been killed out of 91 cases in total. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow last month.

“We have, in total, 91 cases so far of Indian nationals who were recruited into the Russian army. Eight of them, unfortunately, have passed away. Fourteen of them have been discharged or in some manner have come back with our assistance. And there are 69 Indian citizens who are awaiting release from the Russian army,” Jaishankar said addressing a Parliamentary session.

Asserting that the Indian government has taken the matter “very, very seriously” the External Affairs Minister said, “I have myself raised it numerous times with the Russian foreign minister and when Prime Minister was in Moscow last month, he raised it personally with President Putin and he got President Putin's assurance that any Indian national who is in the service of the Russian army will be discharged and released.”

He also said New Delhi does “not necessarily” agree with what the Russian authorities have told India that these Indian nationals entered into contracts with the Russian Army offering their service.

“The Russian authorities maintain that these Indian nationals entered into contracts for service with the Russian army. We do not, we are not necessarily subscribing to that. I think in many cases, there are reasons to indicate that our nationals were misled, that they were being told that they were going for some other job and that they were then deployed with the Russian army,” he said.

He added that the CBI has registered a criminal case against 19 individuals and entities so far and subsequently, 10 human traffickers have been identified. The CBI has also interrogated 14 people who recently returned from Russia.

During the investigation, two of the accused were arrested on April 24 and two more on May 7. All the four accused are presently in judicial custody.

Meanwhile, Russia has maintained that Moscow never wanted Indians to be part of the Russian Army and that it was an act of criminals.