hired to help, trained to fight: how indians were duped into joining russian military
Moscow: Last week, a 23-year-old Indian National Hemil Mangukiya was killed in a drone attack while fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Hemil’s death brought to light how Indians had been duped into joining the Russian military amid the Ukraine war.
One of Hemil’s friends – 24-year-old Tahir Mohammed recalled shared that Hemil had called him, asking him to not follow ghim to the frontlines but to return to India instead. Tahir later revealed how this phone call saved his life.
Both Hemil and Tahir were part of a group of Indians who had been duped into working for the Russian military on the frontlines. Tahir revealed they had been recruited as “security helpers” and were promised high-paying jobs. However, the Indian nationals soon discovered they were being sent to the Ukrainian border to fight alongside Russian troops as “inexperienced foot-soldiers”.
Tahir revealed that he had found a YouTube channel called Baba Blocks while he was searching for a job. “They advertised employment opportunities with the Russian army as ‘security helpers’ and offered a monthly salary of ₹2 lakh… When I called them to clarify if the job only involved assisting the army and not combat duty, they assured me it did not entail going to the border,” Tahir told Hindustan Times.
He revealed that he spent over Rs 4 lakhs for a visa, flight tickets and other expenses to go to Russia. Last year, Tahir received a phone call to go to Chennai, where he met Hemil and other recruits, From Chennai, the “security helpers” were sent to Moscow via Bahrain.
Once they reached Moscow, the recruits were then taken to military camps, where they were given 15-day training in which they were taught rifle shooting, grenade throwing, rifle repair and more. “We were informed about this training earlier too, but nobody told us that we had to use these skills at the border,” Tahir added.
He also revealed that their SIM cards were taken away from them the minute they landed in Moscow and were given Russian numbers. Their phones were also taken away during training. However, Tahir and Hemil managed to sneak in another phone which helped them stay in contact with each other.
As the Russia-Ukraine war neared two years, Tahir recalled a phone call from Hemil in which he told Tahir to return to India and not follow the others to the barracks.
“He said a fraud had occurred with us. Hemil told me that he was on the frontline somewhere near Luhansk and that two or three people were dying every day,” revealed Tahir.
The scam was also brought to the attention of the Ministry of External Affairs who revealed that several Indians have already been discharged from the army and are on their way back home.
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