New Delhi: Russia has said that 16 Indians are missing, in addition to the documented deaths of 12 others who were working with the Russian army, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reported.
Earlier this week, 32-year-old Binil T.B., a resident of Kerala, was identified as the latest Indian casualty in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. Another Indian, Jain T.K., sustained injuries in the same drone attack in which Binil was killed.
Providing an update during the weekly briefing on Friday (January 17), MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal shared the latest figures.
“As of today, we have recorded 126 cases involving Indians who were either serving in the Russian armed forces or had been associated with them. Among these, 96 individuals have already returned to India,” he said.
Jaiswal also confirmed that 12 Indian nationals had died, while 18 are still serving in the Russian military. Of these, 16 have been classified as missing by Russian authorities.
“We are actively engaging with the Russian authorities to expedite the release and repatriation of those who remain there,” he added.
In the last six months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the demand for the return of the Indians workers twice with Russian President Vladimir Putin, once during a bilateral visit in July and again at another meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in October.
In August 2024, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar informed parliament that a total of 91 Indian nationals had been recruited into the Russian army.
At the time, he noted that eight had died, 14 had been discharged or returned with government assistance, and 69 were still awaiting release.
At that time, Jaishankar also highlighted the challenges in bringing back Indians from Russia, attributing the difficulties to employment contracts they had signed.
“We do not necessarily agree with those contracts … In many instances, there is evidence suggesting that our nationals were misled. They were told they were going for other jobs, but were subsequently deployed with the Russian army,” he said.
