The father of Azad Yusuf Kumar, holds a smartphone displaying the photos of his son, wearing military uniform, at Pulwama village [Faisal Bashir/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]
Published April 1, 2024
Young men from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka are on the front lines of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Young men from South Asia joined the Russian army in its war against Ukraine after they were promised lucrative salaries and benefits.
Now, they are being deprived of their salaries and are being killed on the front lines – all escape routes are rife with hurdles.
Here is more about the South Asian men fighting Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Which countries do foreign fighters in the Russia-Ukraine war come from?
Men predominantly from Nepal, India and Sri Lanka have gone to fight the war as mercenaries.
In March 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed the plan to allow foreign volunteers to join Russia in its war against Ukraine. Observers speculated that Russia was looking to recruit fighters from Syria. A Nepali mercenary told Al Jazeera that Nepali, Tajik and Afghan fighters are sent straight to the front line.
While the Nepali government does not have an exact number of Nepalis fighting in Russia, a foreign ministry official estimated that as many as 200 Nepalis were fighting in Russia by the end of 2023.
Some analysts estimated that about a thousand Nepali fighters have been deployed. The numbers are largely based on the complaints received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nepal from families of recruits, explained Santosh Sharma Poudel, a foreign policy analyst and co-founder of Nepal Institute for Policy Research.
The unofficial number of Indians fighting in Ukraine is estimated to be about 100, local media has reported.
Several Sri Lankans living in Russia told Al Jazeera that hundreds of their compatriots were now serving Russia’s military.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com
