‘Stay Away from The Conflict’: MEA Tells Citizens to Steer Clear of the Russia-Ukraine War

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told citizens to stay away from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. (Image: News18 File)

The Union ministry of external affairs urged citizens to stay away from the conflict in Ukraine while responding to media queries regarding Indians caught in conflict in Russia on Friday.

The ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the ministry is aware of some citizens participating in the conflict by working support jobs with the Russian army. He said the matter has been taken up with relevant Russian authorities so that these individuals can be released early.

“We are aware that a few Indian nationals have signed up for support jobs with the Russian army. The Indian Embassy has regularly taken up this matter with the relevant Russian authorities for their early discharge. We urge all Indian nationals to exercise due caution and stay away from this conflict,” Randhir Jaiswal said, according to a press release by the ministry.

Reports by news outlets Hindustan Times and The Hindu said that few Indians were being forced to fight alongside Russian troops.

The reports claimed that the Indians who had signed up as “security helpers” with the Russian army were forced to fight beside Russian troops along the border with Ukraine.

The reports said that Indian nationals were also stranded at several places along the Russia-Ukraine border, in the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Rostov-on-Don.

The report by The Hindu said that the citizens were from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. The chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad also raised the issue and wrote to external affairs minister S Jaishankar and the Indian embassy in Moscow.

The 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war will enter its second year this week.

On the two-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion, which has pitted Russia’s military might against Ukrainian resolve, there is a growing sense of uncertainty among those caught in between over how and when it will all end.

The fallout from disagreements in Washington and Brussels over aid has rippled all the way to the front line in the Donetsk region, where outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian troops are ceding ground to Moscow’s determined forces.