NEW DELHI: Mohammed Asfan’s family never dreamed he would end up fighting in the Ukraine war, much less die there, when he traveled from Hyderabad, India, to Moscow to work as a “helper” in the army.
Asfan is one of several Indian men who, according to their relatives, were coerced into fighting at the front against their will after being enticed to Russia by the promise of lucrative employment prospects.
As per the statement from India’s foreign ministry, each issue that has been brought to their notice has been “strongly taken up”.
Speaking last week, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “We have an understanding that something like 20-odd people are stuck, and we are trying our level best for their early discharge.”
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Russian foreign ministry.
Asfan, a former manager of a clothes store, was lured to Russia by a video on YouTube that offered a permanent employment and residence after six months. He left behind his wife and their two young children.
His brother Imran told Reuters, “He called us from the Ukraine border to tell us his passport had been seized and he was being made to fight…he asked for help but by then he was already stuck,” one day after learning of Asfan’s passing.
In a post on X, the Indian embassy in Russia stated that attempts were on to repatriate his body to India.
In December, Hemil Mangukiya, a 23-year-old Gujarati embroiderer, was drawn to Russia by a comparable YouTube recruitment video.
His father Ashwin Mangukiya told Reuters on Thursday that his son “realized he was being trained to fight after reaching (Russia) and was told he would work as a helper in the army and would be trained for three months.”
Two days after Hemil was slain, on February 23, the family received a call from another Indian man who was fighting by him informing them of Hemil’s passing.
“We are still waiting for his body to arrive so we can conduct his last rites,” stated the dad.
In recordings that have gone viral on social media, seven other men have asked for New Delhi’s assistance in leaving Russia. They claim that although they were there on tourist visas, they were pressured to enlist in the army or risk being imprisoned for ten years, according to local media.
Requests for comments on the tapes were not immediately answered by India’s foreign ministry.
In what Moscow refers to as a “special military operation,” tens of thousands of soldiers have lost their lives on both sides of what has become Europe’s worst land conflict since World War Two since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.
