The meeting earlier this week between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, during which the return of Indians fighting in the war was discussed, had raised the men’s hopes of getting back home.
However, Gagandeep Singh from Gurdaspur in Punjab said that while he had been away from the fighting with a knee injury during the time of the Modi-Putin meeting, his hopes of returning home were dented when he was later told to go back to the frontlines.
“My commander has told me that he didn’t receive any order to release us. Now, the whole unit is going to the frontline, and I have also been told to join the unit,” he told The Indian Express.
Urgen Tamang (47), from Kalimpong in West Bengal, is already on the frontlines and has said in a video message that he and a Sri Lankan man are the only two non-Russians alive in his contingent that originally had 15 such people.
While he expressed hope that the Modi-Putin meeting would lead to his and other Indians’ return, he told Kalimpong Municipality official Rabi Pradhan, who has been been reaching out to Indian authorities on his behalf, that he was apprehensive about whether the Russian government would allow them to leave.
Neither man joined the Russian military of their own volition. Gagandeep said he had gone to Russia on a tourist visa on the advice of someone who said an increased travel history would help him get work in England. In Russia, he said he and some of his friends took a taxi to Belarus, where they had an argument with the taxi driver who ultimately left them stranded on a road and left. He said they were picked up from there by police, who told them they did not have the requisite visas to be in Belarus, and eventually handed them over to the Russian military.
The story of Urgen is a bit different. The Indian Express had earlier reported that he was duped by agents who promised him the job of a security guard in Russia, but took him instead to the frontlines of the battle with Ukraine.
Desperate to bring him back, his family approached Rabi Pradhan, the chairperson of the board of administrators of Kalimpong Municipality for help. Subsequently, Pradhan reached out to the Ministry of External Affairs and got a reply that the matter had been taken up with the Indian Embassy in Moscow “for necessary assistance”.
Speaking to The Indian Express from Kalimpong, Pradhan said he is in constant contact with Urgen via WhatsApp. “It has been six months since Urgen got there. We are not sure whether he will return alive… He sent me a video message last night,” Pradhan said.
In the video message sent Thursday, Urgen said: “Since March, I have been stuck in the Russia-Ukraine war. There were 15 non-Russians here, but 13 have been killed. Only the two of us, myself and a man from Sri Lanka, are alive. I am in touch with the Kalimpong Municipality chairman… He told me that Modi was in Russia and he had a talk with the Russian President. I am happy that I am alive and I want to go back to my country… I appeal to authorities to please release me and other Indians…”
In earlier conversations with Pradhan, Urgen highlighted his plight. “I am alright. I saw the news you guys have sent me, thank you… Let us see what happens next, what fate has planned for me… I am not sure if my name will be included for evacuation… Though Modi ji has spoken about our situation, we are not sure what steps the Russian government will take… If our names will be included or not… Whatever messages you guys get, please do send them to me…,” Urgen told Pradhan.
During one conversation, Urgen spoke about the Army camp he was in: “For now, we have been brought to the rest area for the next 10-12 days, but the rest area is also in the forest… There are shops nearby and we are allowed to visit the shops in the evening from where we can call home…. In the camp, we have WiFi, but we are not given the password, so we cannot call from the camp…”
He also told Pradhan that according to what he heard, he would be allowed to leave after a one-year contract is fulfilled. “I volunteered to have my contract cancelled, but they said this could not be done,” Urgen said.
Urgen is an ex-serviceman who left home on January 18, this year. He was taken to Delhi and then to Russia by agents who promised him a job as a security guard.
His wife Ambika said, “We have two children. I just want my husband to return alive.”
Gagandeep said the conditions on the frontline are “horrific”. “I was not on the frontline as I suffered a knee injury. All other Indian youths in my unit are already on the frontline. They all told me that the situation is very serious there,” he said.
“One youth from Uttar Pradesh was on the frontline. He came back only last night and explained the horrific conditions… They (the Russian military) have been sending maximum force to the frontline,” Gagandeep said.
He said that during Modi’s visit to Moscow, he had hoped he would be sent back home. “But now we have been asked to go to the frontline. I request the Indian government to talk to Russia and arrange our return to India,” he said.