Moscow: The release of nearly 70 Indians serving in the Russian Army has been held up as authorities in Moscow are yet to annul their contracts for military service, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
The release and repatriation of Indian nationals serving as support staff with Russian military units has become a hot button issue after the death of at least nine Indians on the frontlines of the war with Ukraine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Moscow in July.
The issue has been taken up through diplomatic channels in both New Delhi and Moscow since that meeting, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. The release of nearly 70 Indians from the Russian Army has been held up primarily because Russia’s defence ministry is yet to take action to cancel their contracts, they said.
“The Russian defence ministry has to issue a decree annulling the contracts and that hasn’t happened as yet,” one of the people cited above said. A second person said the delay on the part of the Russian defence ministry could be due to apprehensions about the impact of such an annulment on contracts signed by nationals of other countries.
According to information provided by the government in recent weeks, a total of 91 Indians were recruited into the Russian Army and 15 of them have been released and repatriated to India. Sixty-eight Indians are currently awaiting release from the Russian Army.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar had alluded to the problem of the contracts while speaking in Lok Sabha on August 9. “The problem…is that the Russian authorities maintain that these Indian nationals entered into contracts for service with the Russian Army. We are not necessarily subscribing to that,” he said.
The Indian side takes the matter very seriously, and Modi got an assurance from Putin that any Indian national in the service of the Russian Army will be discharged and released, Jaishankar said.
A day after Jaishankar’s statement in Parliament, the Russian embassy in New Delhi said the recruitment of Indian nationals into Russia’s armed forces was stopped in April this year, and authorities are working for the early discharge of Indians who “voluntarily contracted for military service”.
The embassy also expressed condolences to the families of the dead and said all contractual obligations and compensation payments “will be fulfilled in full measure”.
The Indian side has also said many Indians recruited into the Russian military were “misled” or duped by unscrupulous recruitment agents. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a criminal case against 19 individuals and entities for their alleged role in recruiting Indians and made several arrests.
