Despite Putin’s Promise to Discharge Indian Soldiers, No Effort on Ground

Indian PM Narendra Modi recently visited Moscow. At a private dinner hosted by Putin on 8 Jul, Modi raised the issue of Indians deployed in the Russia-Ukraine war. He is supposed to have requested Putin to discharge all Indians. Russia agreed and promised to facilitate their return. Nearly two dozen Indians, including Punjabis, were reportedly tricked by agents into going to Ukraine for high-paying jobs, but forced to fight in the war. However, after Modi's departure, Russia did not fulfill its promise. Gagandeep Singh from Panjab’s Gurdaspur is among the many men from India who have claimed that they were inducted into the Russian army against their will. Singh said his commander denied getting any orders from the govt. for their release. ‘After PM Modi went back, now the whole unit is going to the frontline, and I have also been told to join the unit. I request the Indian government to talk to Russia and arrange our visit back to India,’ he said from a camp where he is recovering from a knee injury. Singh said his Indian friends from his unit are already on the frontline. ‘My friends told me that the situation is very serious at the frontline. I have not been able to talk to my Panjabi friends for many days.’ Forty-seven-year-old Urgen Tamang, from Kalimpong in West Bengal, has been with the Russian Army for the last six months. In a video message, he and a Sri Lankan man are the only two non-Russians alive in his contingent that originally had 15 people (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 28, Story 10).