India seeks return of citizens from Russian front line in Ukraine

India is working to bring back about 20 of its citizens who ended up on the Russian side of the front line in Ukraine, after their families said they were lured there under false pretences.

The men’s plight has made national headlines in India, discomfiting a government that has good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin but says it has “strongly taken up” the issue of the men unwittingly conscripted into Moscow’s army. 

“We have got some of them out and are working on getting the rest out now,” the ministry of external affairs told the Financial Times.

In a statement last week, the ministry said it was “actively pursuing” all the relevant cases involving Indian nationals for an early discharge from the Russian army. 

In interviews, relatives of some of the men said they had been lured to Russia by promises of work with the army away from the war’s front line and of permanent residence in Russia on the borders of the EU, which is a coveted destination for job-seeking Indians.

In September, a social media influencer started posting about jobs in Russia on his Hindi-language YouTube channel Baba’s Vlogs. In one video he posted about demand for food delivery boys in Russia; in another he spoke about jobs for “helpers” for the Russian army.

Strolling on the streets of St Petersburg, the YouTuber spoke about the wonderful climate in Russia, the prospects of a Rs100,000 ($1,206) a month job with the Russian army, and free food and accommodation after three months of training. 

Mohammed Imran, from Hyderabad in south India, said his 30-year-old brother Mohammed Asfan “got trapped” after watching a Baba’s Vlogs video which claimed he would be able to work for the Russian army in Moscow, and become eligible for permanent Russian residency in less than a…