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The decision to send back Indian nationals who were ‘duped’ into fighting in the war in the name of jobs and employment came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his two-day Moscow visit read more
 "Moscow says it 'never wanted Indians in Russian Army'")
Representational image: Reuters
Russia “never wanted” Indians to fight for them in the Ukraine war, a diplomat said as the country prepares to repatriate Indian nationals hired by the Russian Army.
The decision to send back Indian nationals who were “duped” into fighting in the war in the name of jobs and employment came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his two-day Moscow visit.
In the first comments on the issue from the Russian government, Russia’s Charge d’affaires Roman Babushkin said Moscow never wanted the Indians to be part of its Army and their number is insignificant in the context of the conflict.
“We are on the same side with the Indian government on the issue… We hope that the issue will be resolved soon,” he told PTI.
“Let us be very clear, we have never wanted Indians to be part of the Russian Army. You would never see any announcement by Russian authorities on this,” he said.
The Russian diplomat said most of the Indians were recruited under a commercial framework as they wanted to “make money”.
The number of Indians – 50, 60 or 100 people – does not make any significance in terms of the wider conflict.
“They are there purely for commercial reasons and we did not want to recruit them,” he said.
Babushkin said most of the Indians recruited as support staff are working illegally as they do not have appropriate visas to work.
He said most of them came to Russia on tourist visas.
Asked if the families of those killed would be given compensation and Russian citizenship, Babushkin said that it “should happen anyway as per the contractual obligations”.
On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said in Moscow that the Russian side promised early discharge of all Indian nationals from the service of the Russian Army.
“The prime minister strongly raised the issue of early discharge of Indian nationals who have been misled into the service of the Russian Army. This was taken up strongly by the prime minister and the Russian side promised early discharge of all Indian nationals,” he said.
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English (US) ·