Indians were unknowingly recruited into the Russian army

When his wife gave birth to a baby boy in December 2023, Azad Yusuf Kumar promised himself that he would find a good job, better than that of his father, a poor laborer from Kashmir. Desperate for work in India, the 31-year-old approached Baba Vlogs, a Dubai-based recruitment consultancy, at the end of the year. Azad left his home in Bhushwaan in Pulwama district for Dubai on December 14, 2023, just days after his wife gave birth.

This science graduate had seen a promotional video on YouTube from Baba Vlogs offering jobs in Dubai to candidates like him. Sajjad Ahmed Kumar, his elder brother, called him the worldHe confirms that Azad offered him a job as an assistant in a hotel. “We lost contact with him for a while. When he finally called after about 20 days, he said he had been tricked and taken to an undisclosed location in Russia, where he received weapons training for 15 days, along with 'dozens of other Indians.'“, confirmed Sajjad Ahmed Kumar.

During his training, Azad Yusuf Kumar injured his foot and was hospitalized for about twenty days. “Once his wound heals, related to his brother, He was deployed near the front line with the Russian army. I spoke to him on December 26th. He was constantly crying. He told me he wanted to go home. »

“My son does not understand Russian”

The thirty-year-old's mother, Raja Bano, a housewife, confirms that her son was happy to get a job in Dubai. I knew he was on the border between Russia and Ukraine, in a hostile situation. He told me he was stuck and there was no way to get home.”, she explains between sobs. Her son was allegedly held in a room by the Russians for several days after he refused to join the army.

According to his father, Muhammad Yusuf Kumar, the Russians confiscated his mobile phone and the phones of dozens of Indians who accompanied him when they arrived in Moscow in January. “They were asked to sign documents written in Russian. The Russians threatened to kill them if they did not sign. My son does not understand Russian. How would he know what is written on the paper?”is carried away.

Azad Yusuf Kumar is part of a group of Indians sent against their will to fight against Ukraine alongside the Russian army. Daily information revealed HindusFebruary 20It was confirmed, after several days of silence, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. About two dozen Indians – farmers, labourers, students and unemployed – from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kashmir, attracted by well-paid jobs, have been stranded since November 2023 in Kharkiv, Mariupol, Rostov and Donetsk regions, along the border. Between Russia and Ukraine. A 23-year-old Indian from Gujarat was reportedly killed in a missile attack.

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