External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar today said there are 91 cases so far of Indian nationals who were recruited into the Russian Army. Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha, Dr Jaishankar said eight of them have unfortunately passed away and fourteen of them have been discharged. He informed that 69 Indian citizens are awaiting release from the Russian army. The Minister stressed that India takes this issue very seriously. He said that he has raised the issue numerous times with the Russian Foreign Minister. He further stated that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Moscow last month, Mr Modi got the Russian President’s assurance that any Indian national who is in the service of the Russian army, will be discharged and released. Dr Jaishankar said the problem is that the Russian authorities maintain that these Indian nationals entered into contracts for service with the Russian army. He however pointed out that in many cases, there are reasons to indicate that the Indian nationals were misled and told that they were going for some other job and then deployed to the Russian army.
On action taken regarding the matter, the Minister informed that the CBI has registered a criminal case against 19 individuals and entities. He said sufficient evidence has surfaced against ten human traffickers. During the investigation, two accused were arrested in April and two more were arrested in May. All the four accused are in judicial custody.
On people being misled to work in South East Asia on cyber scams, Dr Jaishankar said the Indian government has taken it up with all the concerned governments at the political level. So far, 650 Indian nationals have been repatriated from Cambodia, 450 from Myanmar and 548 from Laos. He said this is an issue for which the government is very vigilant.
