Four persons have been detained by Indian police on suspicion of “trafficking” Indian nationals to fight in Ukraine for the Russian army.
Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine in the two years since the invasion started, and Moscow has been searching all over the world for fresh recruits.
Several recruits told AFP they were sent to the front lines on false pretenses, and at least two Indian soldiers had died in the fighting.
Four persons had been taken into custody, according to a statement released late on Tuesday by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Among them was a man who had served as a translator for a network that helped recruit Indian soldiers in Russia.
The statement also stated that “investigations against other accused individuals who are a part of this global network of human traffickers are ongoing.”
Two months have passed since the investigators detained numerous individuals for interrogation during raids at thirteen different locations in India. At the time, the CBI claimed to have discovered at least 35 cases of Indians being deported to Russia.
Approximately twenty Indian nationals serving in the Russian army were set to be released, according to a statement made previously by the Indian foreign ministry.
In February, a number of Indian recruits told AFP that they were enticed to enlist by claims of large pay and Russian passports, and that after enrolling they were sent to fight on the front lines.
The soldiers claimed that although they had been offered non-combatant jobs, they had received training before being transferred to Ukraine on how to handle Kalashnikov assault rifles and other weapons.
Despite Kyiv’s challenges with manpower and ammunition shortages, Russia’s army has made progress on the front lines after thwarting a much-hyped counteroffensive by the Ukrainians last year.
India has been a Russian friend for a long time and has refrained from publicly denouncing the invasion of Ukraine.
India’s unemployment rate is still high despite the country’s strong economic expansion, and thousands of people want to work overseas every year due to labor shortages caused by Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
