Eighty-five Indians who had been inducted into the Russian Army and made to fight in the country’s war on Ukraine have been discharged, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday.
About 20 other Indians are yet to be released from the Russian Army, and that the Union government is seeking to get them discharged early, said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
“We have been in very close touch with our interlocutors in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence of Russia on this issue of Indians who were illegally or otherwise contracted into fighting in the Russian Army,” Misri said.
“This matter was taken up at the highest levels including by the Prime Minister with President Putin.”
Around a hundred Indians were believed to have been forced to fight alongside the Russian army in its war on Ukraine. Dozens of them had sought the government’s help to return home.
At least eight Indians were killed in the conflict as of July, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had informed Parliament.
The media brief came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for the Russian city of Kazan to attend the 16th BRICS Summit.
Modi is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
