New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) India on Friday said that the number of Indian nationals serving in the Russian Army has increased to 44 in view of recruitment in recent months.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it has taken up the matter with Moscow and urged them to stop recruiting Indians into the Russian military.
“In the last few months, we have been informed of several Indian nationals who have been recruited in the Russian army,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“As per our understanding, there are 44 Indian nationals presently serving in the Russian Army,” he said at his weekly media briefing.
Indian officials in September had said there were 27 Indians serving in the Russian Army.
Jaiswal said India has taken up the matter with Russian authorities and urged them to release the Indians at the “earliest and also to put an end to this practice”.
“We are in touch with the Russian side. We are also in touch with the families of these people and giving them an update on the matter,” he said.
There have been reports that some Indians on student and business visas were forced into joining Russian military units deployed on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine.
India has been repeatedly asking Russia to release all Indians serving as support staff, such as cooks and helpers, with Russian military units.
The issue was raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Russia last year as well.
Jaiswal called upon Indians to stay away from offers being made to serve in the Russian Army as they are “fraught with danger to life”.
“We have said this so many times. In spite of our repeated reminders, people continue to enlist. If somebody wants to do it, we cannot stop him but we continue to press that you must be aware of the dangers that are there once you sign up for these jobs,” Jaiswal said.
According to official data, the number of Indians recruited by the Russian military is now close to 170. While 96 were discharged by Russian authorities, another 16 have been listed as missing.
At least 12 Indians were killed while fighting on the frontlines of the conflict in Ukraine. PTI MPB ZMN
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