Seven Indians from Punjab and Haryana trapped in the war zone between Russia and Ukraine have appealed to the Ministry of External Affairs to help them return to India safely.
The seven Indians have been identified as Gagandeep Singh (24), Lovepreet Singh (24), Narain Singh (22), Gurpreet Singh (21), Gurpreet Singh (23), Harsh Kumar (20) and Abhishek Kumar (21). While five youths were said to be from Punjab, the other two are from Haryana, according to The Hindu.
In a video that went viral on platform 'X', the seven youths, visibly dressed in Russian soldiers' uniforms pleaded to the Indian government to bring back them and alleged that they were forced into fighting a war against their will.
In the video, six of them were seen huddled in a corner while 19-year-old Harsh from Haryana's Karnal recorded their plight.
According to NDTV, the family of Harsh said that their son who was seeking jobs abroad was taken to Russia under the pretext that "it would be easier to emigrate to a country of his choice if he went via Russia."
"My son went abroad on December 23, 2023. He went in search of work and was caught in Russia, where his passport was snatched away. He told us they had been caught by Russian soldiers who threatened to put them in jail for 10 years and recruited them. He said he was forced to do military training," his mother claimed according to the news channel.
One of the youths, who claimed that he was supposedly visiting Russia to celebrate New Year was forcibly sent to fight war with Ukraine.
"We came to visit Russia as tourists for the New Year on December 27 and met an agent who took us to Belarus. Upon reaching Belarus, he (the agent) demanded money. He abandoned us there as we didn't any more money on us," said one of the stranded youths.
"We were caught and locked up in a room for over three days by the Russian army. They later forced us to sign a contract to work as helpers, drivers and cooks. The contract was in their language but we were threatened that we will be put in jail if we failed to sign. It was only later we understood we were tricked into the war," he added.
"We were given some training and taken to war bases in Ukraine. Few of our friends were taken to the frontline. We will soon be taken to frontlines. We cannot even hold the guns properly. We don't want to fight wars. We want to come back," they said.
Many more Indians from Punjab, Haryana, Kashmir, Karnataka, Gujarat and Telangana have been fraudulently taken to fight wars against Ukraine in promise of better jobs of more money.
This comes hours after a man from Hyderabad allegedly working from the Wagner Army died in Russia Ukraine war.
On February 21, a 23-year-old Gujarati was killed by a drone attack on the Russia-Ukraine bordering Donetsk.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs said on February 29 that around 20 Indians are “stuck” with the Russian army and efforts were underway to facilitate their discharge
