New Delhi: Seven Indians who are stuck in Russia have reached out to the Indian government to facilitate their discharge as they were forced to join the Russian army.
According to the Hindu, five of them are from Punjab, and two are from Haryana. They released two videos on March 3 and March 4 seeking help from the government to return to India.
All the seven identified individuals are in their early 20s – Gagandeep Singh (24), Lovepreet Singh (24), Narain Singh (22), Gurpreet Singh (21), Gurpreet Singh (23), Harsh Kumar (20) and Abhishek Kumar (21).
In the video, one of the men said that they went to Russia on tourist visas and were detained by the police for not having a “slip”. Subsequently, they were forced by the police to join the army as “helpers” or risk facing a 10-year jail term.
However, the ordeal of these men didn’t end, as per their version.
“We were told that we only have to work as helpers. But they enlisted us for training in arms and ammunition and are preparing to send us to Ukraine. They kept us hungry and snatched our phones,” The Hindu quoted one of the men from the March 3 video as saying. As per the report, he was speaking in Punjabi.
Further, the man alleged that the Russian army have asked them to “help them win the war” and told them that they can “leave only after a year”.
Also read: Twenty-Odd Indians ‘Stuck’ in Russia, Trying to Get Them Discharged: MEA
“They are asking us to help them win the war. We don’t know how to help them. If we don’t, we may not survive,” the man said in the video, as per the report.
In another video released on March 4 by the same group, a person spoke in Hindi. “We had made you aware of our plight earlier also. There are many Indians stuck in either Ukraine or Russia. We request the Indian Embassy and the Indian government to help us. This could be our last video, they are sending us to the war zone in Ukraine,” The Hindu quoted the person.
According to The Hindu, their request for help came after the ministry of external affairs (MEA) confirmed that 20 Indians had reached out to the Indian embassy in Russia for their return to India. The ministry said that they are trying their best to bring them back.
However, as per previous media reports, 100 Indians may have been recruited as security helpers by the Russian army. While they were assured that they would not be deployed in active conflict zones, they were forced to go to combat areas on the Ukraine war frontline.
