Jalandhar: Some of the young men who have returned to India from the battlefield after having been forced to fight for Russia say they are shell-shocked after having seen bodies of soldiers lying in jungles, and drone and grenade attacks.
“It was like we were in a terrifying film. We cannot explain in words what we went through,” one said.
While a Punjab-based man returned home with a fractured jawline, an Uttar Pradesh resident was forced to rejoin action in Russia even after he sustained shrapnel injuries on his hand and feet from a low-flying drone attack.
The Wire has learnt that many of them were victim to scams by travel agents who had retained ‘duplicate debit cards ‘on the pretext of sending their salary back home but eventually did no such thing.
“The agents asked us to make two debit cards on the same bank account so that they could send our salaries back home. While one ATM card was in our possession, the second one was with the travel agents. They took this opportunity to deduct all salaries and fled,” they said.
Around 45 Indians who had been forced to join the Russian Army reached Delhi on September 12. The second batch is expected to reach home in the coming days.
As per the Ministry of External Affairs, 55 youths are still stuck in the Russian Army. The group included six from Punjab and Haryana and one, from Uttar Pradesh. Earlier Union external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had informed the parliament that till date eight Indian youth had died fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war.
All of them were lured by travel agents who said they would work as support staff in the Russian Army. However, after reaching Russia, they were given two options – either to join the Russian Army or face a 10-year jail term for overstaying their visa. Left with no option, the youth had to go to the Russian war zone and were sent for 15 days of training at Rostov-on-Don in Russia.
Indian soldiers in Russia. Photo: By arrangement.
‘Russia-Ukraine fighting a fierce battle, we were mentally drained’
Back home from Donetsk, Haryana’s Rajat Gupta, who came along with five others from Punjab said it was raining bombs and drones in the war zone. While the Russian Army had snatched the mobile phones of all the soldiers, Gupta somehow managed to keep his and kept in touch with his family.
Interestingly, Gupta went to Russia on April 7, a month after the initial reports of men tricked into the Russian Army had surfaced. The Central Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating the fraud.
He joined the Russian Army on April 14. “Our travel agent and translator did not inform us that the contract, which was written in Russian, was about joining the Russian Army and not working as support staff,” he said.
He also shared how language was the biggest challenge for the Indians. “I would talk to them through Google Translate or sign language. Though I could talk in English, the Russian soldiers used to speak only in Russian. We were simply meant to follow their signs, whatever little we could understand of it,” he added.
Gupta said that men as young as 18 or 22 years old had been tricked into joining the Russian army. Their misery was difficult to witness, he added.
“We survived bomb attacks, drone strikes, grenade attacks, lifted injured soldiers, and saw the bodies of those who died in action. Our primary task was firing on the battlefront, bringing water in buckets from nearby taps for Russian soldiers, supplying ration, getting ammunition, working as security staff at ammunition depots and even putting up tents for officers,” he added.
Gupta denied claims that Indian youth were beaten up by Russian soldiers for refusing to fight in the war. “They had sympathy for us and could understand our problem but were helpless too,” he said.
But, he added that fleeing was not an option. “We would have been killed had we tried running away from the war zone.”
Abandoned in Russia
Apart from the men in the first batch, a 23-year-old from Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district returned a week ago with a fractured jawline. A Class 12 graduate, he was duped by an online agent who promised to take him to Europe but instead abandoned him in Russia.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the man requesting anonymity had shared that he sustained the facial injury when a heavy wrench hit him during the war, fracturing the bone near his jawline. The youth was currently undergoing treatment for a fractured jaw at PGI Chandigarh. Before going to Russia, he was working in a factory earning Rs 8,000 to 9,000 per month. “Had Punjab government created enough jobs, people would not have moved abroad,” he shared.
The Punjab-based men who returned were from Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Hoshiarpur districts.
Another Punjab-based youth from Ajnala in Amritsar district, Shamsher Singh (19) said that he was planning to move to Azerbaijan or Dubai when his Russian visa was approved. He too went to Russia on April 2, a month after the reports of the job scam came in.
Hailing from a financially weak family, Shamsher, a Class 10 graduate said, “My father is a labourer and our financial condition was not good. I thought I would elevate my family from poverty by moving abroad but never knew that I would land in such trouble. Our Delhi-based travel agent committed fraud.”
Shamsher, who was posted at Donetsk in Russia, said that life in the Russian Army was a struggle. “The Russian soldiers used to force us to learn the Russian language, failing which they would beat us. The news of the death of some Indian men also broke our morale but we were trapped,” he added.
Similarly, Brijesh Yadav from Mau district, Uttar Pradesh, who came back from Luhansk battlefront in Russia turned emotional when he reached his village. Brijesh went to Russia on January 21 and joined the Russian Army on February 6.
“Jo mahaul tha…yakeen nahi tha ki bach jayenge (The kind of condition I was in, I had no hope that I would come back alive). I used to cry every day but there was nobody to understand our pain. Back home, only my wife was aware of my crisis. She prayed for me every day,” he said.
Brijesh had sustained a bullet injury on his feet and remained hospitalised for one month in May, 2024.
Indian soldiers at the Russian airport. Photo: Video screengrab.
“As soon as I recovered, the commander ordered me to join the battlefront. I had no option but to follow the order, else the Russian soldiers would have beaten me. We used to plead with them in sign language that we have been duped by travel agents but they could not understand anything,” he added.
He also said finding vegetarian food was a tough task in Russia. “We survived on bread, tea and potatoes. Even those who were non-vegetarian could not eat Russian food, as they would eat raw or steamed meat,” he said.
Travel agents deducted the salaries of Indians in Russian Army
Travel agents have not only robbed the men of their with salaries amounting to Rs 1.95 lakh per month but also a compensation of Rs 30 lakh for the injured, they said.
“I served in the Russian Army for seven months but have returned home without a single penny. Our agent ran away with all my money. We are poor people and have no source of income other than farming,” Yadav said, requesting help from the government in getting the money back.
Gupta said that initially he received Rs 6.95 lakh in his bank account out of which he spent Rs 2 lakh. However, later, his bank account was emptied. “When the Russian Army got to know that we have received our salaries, they started charging us for bullet proof jackets, diesel, mess and food,” he said.
The men blamed one Harmandeep Singh from Khanna town in Ludhiana district of being hand in glove with the travel agents. “He managed to flee on his own from the Russian Army a week before the first batch of the Indian youths was released. While we reached the Embassy of India in Moscow in the first batch, Harmandeep flew to India on his own. This speaks volumes about his nexus with some agents,” Gupta said.
Rajat Gupta named two Delhi based travel agents Sumit Dahiya and Jeetinder Jeetu as well. “We are planning a press conference in Delhi in the coming days to expose the travel agents,” he added.
Indians in Russia still waiting for return:
Talking to The Wire over the phone from Chechnya in Russia, Rakesh Yadav, a native of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh said that he was supposed to reach India in the first batch of six Indians but was asked to wait for further clearance.
Yadav said that he was hit by a low-flying drone which injured his hand. “I sustained shrapnel injuries on my hand and feet through a drone attack. On the battlefront, everybody was concerned about their safety first. When I was hit by the drone, our commander and other soldiers fled from the battlefront leaving me behind. Seeing the chaos, I ran backwards and somehow saved myself,” he said.
Yadav shared that another Punjab-based man Gurpreet Singh was also at Chechnya along with him for treatment of his hand. “Gurpreet is not able to move one of his hands. It has stopped working ever since he went to war,” he added.
Another Indian still fighting on the Russian battlefront, Om Parkash Bhamu from Sikar in Rajasthan, said that he would be exposing the nexus of the travel agents with the help of some Delhi Police officials. “My documents are being prepared. I will be coming home soon,” he said.
Similarly, Jagdeep Kumar from Jalandhar district also expressed hope that his brother Mandeep Kumar would also come home soon. “I received a reply from Indian Embassy officials in Russia…he was slightly handicapped and was not even able to walk properly,” he added.
