‘Treated like slaves’: Indians scammed into joining Russian Army return home

Four Indian citizens have returned home on Friday after they were fraudulently drafted into a private Russian Army and made to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war, reported The Times of India.

One of the Indians returned, Mohammad Sufiyan from Telangana, had released a video seven months ago, pleading to be rescued. The three others, who are from Karnataka, and Sufiyan, were prey to a job fraud with approximately 60 more young men from India.

Many others are still stuck in Russia, awaiting rescue, having to serve as soldiers in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Promising jobs as security personnel or helpers in Russia, young men flocked to the job offer and many were shipped out to Russia in December 2023, only to get the shock of their lives upon arrival.

“We were treated like slaves,” Sufiyan told TOI. “We were woken up at 6 am every day and made to work 15 hours straight – with no rest or sleep. The conditions were inhuman,” he added. They had to manage difficult tasks with a meagre ration to depend upon.

After being drafted into service, the men had to dig trenches, operate assault rifles. They were even trained to use Kalashnikovs such as the AK-12 and AK-74, hand grenades and other explosives.

“Our hands were blistered, our backs ached and our spirits were broken. Yet if we showed any signs of exhaustion, bullets were fired at us to force us back into the laborious tasks, ” Sufiyan told TOI.

Beyond the physical toll, was the pyschological burden of living disconnected from the world. Their phones had been confiscated and they didn’t know when they would return or when they could talk to their family next.

Syed Ilias Hussaini from Karnataka, who was also rescued from Russia, said that fear became a constant part of their lives as they didn’t know how long they would live.

Against a backdrop of constant bullets, they managed to comfort themselves with the thought of returning home to their families. However, Hussaini and Sufiyan both said, that they were still haunted by the traumatic deaths and high-pressure situations they had seen.

Sufiyan recalls his friend Hamil dying, “Hamil, a very good friend of mine from Gujarat, was blown to death in a drone attack. He was part of a team of 24 soldiers, including one Indian and one Nepali. It shook me up.”

Hamil’s death became the catalyst for them to alert their families about the situation, who then reached out to the union external affairs minister S Jaishankar who facilitated their rescue.