New Delhi [India], October 21 : Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday said that the Russian Army and New Delhi are working diligently to secure the release of 20 citizens who were illegally or otherwise contracted into fighting in the Russian military and confirmed that 85 Indians have been discharged so far.
He said while addressing a special media briefing on Monday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia for the 16th BRICS Summit.
Misri said that the mortal remains of the Indians who were killed in the war were returned to their families.
"Our embassy officials have been in close touch with the interlocutors in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence of Russia on the issue of Indians who were illegally or otherwise contracted into fighting in the Russian army. The matter was taken at the highest level including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Around 85 people have returned from Russia and unfortunately, we have returned the mortal remains of people who lost their lives during the conflict. Nearly 20 people remain and we are pressing our interlocutors for the discharge of all remaining in the armed forces there," he said.
Notably, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, responding to questions on Indian nationals in the Russian Army in August 2024 said that there are reasons to indicate that the Indian nationals recruited into the Russian Army on false promises were misled, and added that the issue is taken very seriously by the government.
"I think in many cases there are reasons to indicate that our nationals were misled -- that they were being told that they were going for some other job, and then they were then deployed to the Russian Army," Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar asserted both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and himself had personally raised these issues with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin, even during their visit to Moscow in July 2024.
"I have myself raised it numerous times with Russian FM and when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Moscow last month, he raised it personally with President Putin and he got President Putin's assurance that any Indian national who is in the service of the Russian Army will be discharged and released..." Jaishankar stated.
Prime Minister Modi paid an official visit to Russia on July 8-9 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit.
At that time, then-Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra stated that Prime Minister Modi, during his meeting with the Russian President, took a strong stance on the issue of Indian nationals being recruited into the Russian army and the Russian government has assured an "early discharge" of these Indians from the army service.
Notably, 91 Indian nationals were recruited were allegedly duped into fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine on the pretext of lucrative jobs.
Misri further stated that PM Modi would depart for Kazan on Tuesday for the BRICS Summit at the invitation of the Russian President.
"PM Modi will be departing for Kazan tomorrow to attend the 16th BRICS summit at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The theme of this edition of BRICS is Strengthening multilateralism for just global development and security...India brings great value to BRICS and its contributions have played a vital role in shaping BRICS efforts in areas such as economic growth, sustainable development and global governance reform...This is the first summit that will be taking place after the first-ever expansion of BRICS last year in Johannesburg."