Moscow: Nearly a week after the Indian government acknowledged that some youths from Telangana, Karnataka and other districts were duped into the Russian Army, another video surfaced on several social media platforms where seven of them claimed to be forced by Moscow to fight the ongoing Ukraine war against their will.
The video, which is now viral on X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed they were on a holiday trip to Moscow and were duped into the Russian army.
VIDEO: Haryana man who went to Russia explaining the situation
In the 105-second video, one of the seven men, who was identified as 19-year-old Harsh from Haryana's Karnal explained how they were inducted into the army and were later sent to the front zone without their consent. Some of them were reportedly from Punjab who went to Russia on December 23 last year.
“We came to visit Russia as tourists for the New Year on December 27. We met an agent who helped us visit different places. Later, the agent offered to take us to Belarus. However, we were not aware we would need a visa for the country. We went to Belarus where we gave money to him, but he demanded more money. He abandoned us on a highway as we didn’t have the money to pay him,” one of the men explained in the video.
"Later, we were caught by the police who handed us over to the Russian army. The Russian military locked us in some unknown place for around three to four days. They later forced us to sign a contract with them to work as helpers, drivers, and cooks and threatened to send us to jail for 10 years if we didn’t. The contract was in their language which we could not understand, but we signed it. They enrolled us in a training centre and we realised later that they had cheated us. They enrolled us in their army and gave training,” he claims.
MEA acknowledged some youths were inducted into the Russian Army
MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, during a weekly press conference last month, acknowledged that the ministry was aware that some Indians were recruited by some agents who later duped them into combating their role in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Families of youth urge MEA for help
Mohammad Sufiyan, from Hyderabad, is one of the many youths who were allegedly duped by some agents and drafted into fighting for Russia in the ongoing conflict against Ukraine. Sufiyan's family has urged the central government as well as the Ministry of External Affairs to safely evacuate the youths trapped in Russia and also take strict action against the agents.
"My brother was taken by Baba Blocks Company, which has offices in Dubai, Delhi, and Mumbai. The first batch went out on November 12, 2023. A total of 21 youths were sent and Rs 3 lakh was taken from each one of them. They were made to sign an agreement in Russia on November 13," said Sufiyan's brother Imran to news agency ANI.
He said that the agents told the youth that they would get the job as army helpers, but were eventually drafted into the army and were deployed inside the Ukrainian borders. Pointing out that they have not been given any assistance or concrete help, he urged the External Affairs Ministry to help them secure the release of youths trapped there.
