32 -year -old Azad Yusuf Kumar of Pulwama district of South Kashmir told DW that in December 2023, looking for employment opportunities abroad, he came to a YouTube channel advertisement in Russia in attractive security positions, which was with celebrity salary.
Azad said that he was surrounded by the possibilities and claims of paying the company for the travel and processing fee about Rs 130,000 (€ 1.430/$ 1.486). Hey said that he was ready to do so, given that despite Stogue being a commerce graduate, he did not find local work.
Azad explained that, at that time, he had no idea that he was finally on the beach along the Russia-Ukraine border with another Indians, and finally fighting in Russia, in Ukraine for several months.
Azad told DW from his residence in Indian administration Kashmir, “I tolerate close-death experiences, including being injured during the contesting, who were injured during the match training, being injured while being contracted for the Russian army to fight in Ukraine. “
Azad exam in Luhanskas
Azad told DW that he faced cruel realities of war when he posted in Luhansk, a war -torn city in Ukraine. Hey claimed that he and other dug trenches between the artillery fire and the upcoming shells – often landed at a close distance from their positions.
“Just a few weeks in the training, I had a gunshot wound in my leg due to the unfamiliarity of keeping weapons, which was admitted to the hospital for more than two weeks,” Azad said.
“While I returned home after nine months, it was a miracle. I had a large -scale employment scam because many other boys from India.”
Last month, the Government of India admitted that 126 Indians have served in the Russian Army. 12 Indian Nationals have died in the list and 16 others are missing.
So far, 96 people have returned to India, separating from the Russian armed forces.
Randhir Jaiswal, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “So we have re -made our demand for the initial discharge of the rest of the Indian national.”
Like Azad, many other youths from South India said that they also ended in Russia after appearing on the video offering.
Gentle for being alive
23-year-old Syed Ilyas Hussaini of India’s southwest state of Karnataka, along with his friends, said Abdul Nayam and Mohammed with the same Ahmed, lured with the promise of attractive security guards in Russia. He was reportedly assured a monthly salary between Rs 70,000–100,000.
Hussaini told DW, “I was initially appointed to a catering company at Dubai Airport as a worker, but he returned to India and told my father Syed Nawaz Ali for a new job in Russia.”
But instead of promised security jobs, they claim that they have been forced to join a private military company and deployed along the Russian-Ukraine border with people from Nepal and Cuba.
Hussaini told DW, “My friends and I was forced to sign the contracts written in Russian, a language that I could not understand, and soon found myself join the Russian army.”
“Our passports and mobiles were taken and once when we were forced to wear an army bag, it was climbed on us who was cheated and was the most afraid. It was a torture and our commander He treated us badly, “Hey said.
Hussaini said, “We were afraid that we would be alive and when a collag was killed in a drone attack from Hemil Mangukia while digging a trench in Surat in Surat, though I will also do,” Hussaini said.
In March last year, Hussaini said how he managed to catch a mobile phone and, together with the other Indian national, recorded a video message in which he highlighted the serious situation he was facing.
Hussaini said, “It was viral and when the government and politicians woke up to our plight, and it was months ago when we were back in the cars back in Moscow and returned home in September,” Hussaini said. The video has removed.
In July, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two -day visit to Moscow, Russia promised to discharge any Indian, motivated to join his army and was then forced into an active war in Ukraine. According to Reuters, who cited an Indian officer.
The decision, which was not formally declared by Russia, came after Modi’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Russian Roule for Indians
Many youths said that they were lured in Russia under false Peters and claimed that the ongoing war has ended, just what were desperate for work and the risk of going abroad looked better than job prospects.
Mohammad Sufiyan of Hyderabad in the southern Indian state of Telangana said that in December 2023, he faced a similar fortune to reach Domodedovo Airport in Moscow.
He claimed that his documents were seized, and were forced to join a private military company.
“It was a difficult experience on the war front and after my return for several days, I had a drone’s bad dreams bombs and bullets and shouted people,” Sufian told DW.
Sufiyan alleged that with Russian soldiers, a camp of about 50 km (31 mi) has been posted in a camp inside the Ukrainian region.
“If we protest, the officer who commanded our unit stood to intimidate us. It’s a miracle of how I survived death,” he said.
Editor Note: In this article the photographs were provided by the interviewers.
Edited by: Keith Walker