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Video Producers: Jaspreet Singh & Sakshat Chandok
Video Editors: Purnendu Pritam & Abhishek Sharma
(Disclaimer: This story was first published on 7 March, 2024. This has been updated on 8 March to add new updates received from one of the men stranded in Russia)
"Feelings tho yhi ha bhai ke jaldi se jaldi apni country wapis aa jaya (All I feel is that I want to be back in our country soon)," Harsh Kumar, 20, told The Quint in a WhatsApp message on Thursday, 7 March.
Harsh is one of the seven Indian men stranded in Russia after allegedly being duped by a travel agent.
On being asked if he's safe, Harsh replied: "Hnji bhai (yes brother)".
Meanwhile, a pall of gloom has descended upon the humble house of Balwinder Kaur, in Dehriwal Kiran village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, as she eagerly waits for her son, Gagandeep, to come back home.
"...We hadn't heard from him for long. He called me up one day and said, 'Mumma, they forcefully admitted me to their army. I want to come back home.' He doesn't call me that often now. Even when he calls, he hurriedly puts the phone down saying he can't talk: 'Mumma, sahab aa gaye ne' (Mom, my senior has come)," narrates Balwinder Kaur.
Like Harsh, Gagandeep Singh's 'Russia tour' turned sour when a travel agent allegedly duped him into joining the Russian army. They have now been reportedly deployed into the Donetsk region to fight the Russia-Ukraine war.
Gagandeep is 23.
It was Harsh Kumar, a resident of Haryana's Karnal district, who released one of the now-viral videos on social media on 4 March narrating their ordeal.
In the video, Harsh can been seen standing with around six other men, all in military greens, pleading the Indian government for their release. He said in Hindi that they arrived in Russia on tourist visas, and were later "detained" by the police for not having necessary documentation.
Gagandeep Singh with a firearm. The Quint couldn't verify if this photo was taken in Russia or Ukraine.
Harsh Kumar with a firearm. The Quint couldn't verify if this photo was taken in Russia or Ukraine.
Harsh Kumar on his trip in Russia.
After they were handed over to the Russian army, Harsh added in the video, they were "threatened" a 10-year jail term by a person who "spoke our language".
Harsh's flight tickets, accessed by The Quint, show that he boarded the 26 December Aeroflot flight from Delhi to Moscow.
His brother Sahil said he had gone there to "strengthen his passport".
"Our plan was to send him to a good country first, so his passport can become strong. We were then planning to send him to Canada, Australia, the US, or even some country in Europe," Sahil told The Quint.
It wasn't until mid-January that Harsh again contacted his family back in Karnal.
Meanwhile, back home, Harsh's mother Suman faces the same predicament as Balwinder.
Before Harsh released the 4 March video in Hindi, the seven men had released another video on 3 March.
In that, a man, who could not yet be identified, said in Punjabi, "We didn't know they are recruiting us in the army when we signed the contract. We are currently in Ukraine, they will send us to the war soon. Please save us."
As per Sahil, Harsh disclosed to his family that they were sent to the war-torn Donetsk Oblast region in Ukraine, which is surrounded by Russia to its east.
Largely controlled by the Russian army at present, Donetsk has been at the forefront of the Russia-Ukraine War which broke out in February 2022. Since then, the region has witnessed massive destruction.
Gagandeep's mother Balwinder also told The Quint, "He told us he has been taken to the war zone, somewhere near the sea."
Gagandeep's mother Balwinder Kaur said that her husband, Balwinder Singh, is a dairy farmer. Her family earns a mere Rs 1,500-2,000 per day.
Asked how her son managed to fly to Russia, Balwinder said she had no details about that, and that Gagandeep arranged for the travel money himself.
Gagandeep also has a younger brother.
Harsh, too, comes from a middle-class family. His father runs a local grocery shop below their house.
Addressing a press briefing on 29 February, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal categorically stated for the first time that it had come to know about "20-odd people stuck in Russia".
The Hindu had earlier carried a report that at least three Indians had been forced to fight as “army security helpers” for Russia, during the ongoing conflict.
On 6 March, 30-year-old Mohammed Afsan from Hyderabad died fighting the Russia-Ukraine war, after he was allegedly "duped" into joining the Russian army. He became the second Indian to have died in the conflict, after Hamil Mangukiya, a Surat-based man, was killed in the war, last week.
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