NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar Friday said the govt is awaiting release of 69 Indians recruited into Russian army and that in many cases there are indications that the Indian nationals were misled into joining that country’s armed forces. So far, Jaishankar said there are 91 Indian nationals recruited into Russian army. Out of them, eight have passed away, 14 were discharged or in some manner have come back with govt’s assistance and “there are 69 citizens awaiting release from Russian army,” he said, in response to a question in LS.
Out of the eight who died, the mortal remains of four have been sent back to India and in two cases — one from Haryana and Punjab — DNA samples have been sent to the Russian side.In one case from Gujarat, the family wants the body to be cremated in Russia and in another case from UP, the mortal remains are being brought back, Jaishankar said while responding to a Parliament question in the Lok Sabha.According to the EAM, the issue is that Russian authorities maintain these Indian entered contracts for services with Russian army. “We are not necessarily subscribing to that… In many cases there are reasons to indicate that our nationals were misled, that they were told that they were going for some other job and then they were deployed with the Russian army,” he added.
The issue of Indians recruited into Russian army was taken up by PM Modi during his meeting with Russian president Putin last month. “We take this issue very very seriously. I have myself raised it numerous times with the Russian foreign minister…When the Prime Minister was in Moscow last month, he raised it personally with President Putin and got the assurance that any Indian national in the service of the Russian army will be discharged and released,” Jaishankar said.
Out of the eight who died, the mortal remains of four have been sent back to India and in two cases — one from Haryana and Punjab — DNA samples have been sent to the Russian side.In one case from Gujarat, the family wants the body to be cremated in Russia and in another case from UP, the mortal remains are being brought back, Jaishankar said while responding to a Parliament question in the Lok Sabha.According to the EAM, the issue is that Russian authorities maintain these Indian entered contracts for services with Russian army. “We are not necessarily subscribing to that… In many cases there are reasons to indicate that our nationals were misled, that they were told that they were going for some other job and then they were deployed with the Russian army,” he added.
The issue of Indians recruited into Russian army was taken up by PM Modi during his meeting with Russian president Putin last month. “We take this issue very very seriously. I have myself raised it numerous times with the Russian foreign minister…When the Prime Minister was in Moscow last month, he raised it personally with President Putin and got the assurance that any Indian national in the service of the Russian army will be discharged and released,” Jaishankar said.