Overview
- Footage circulating this week shows Buta Singh, 25, from Punjab’s Moga district, in Russian military gear appealing to India for evacuation, with his family saying he was taken in August and is now out of contact.
- Another video features Samarjeet Singh, 21, of Ludhiana, who went to Moscow in July to study and work and is now unreachable after telling his family he was being moved into an army role he did not seek.
- A medical student from Rajasthan, identified as Ajay from Bikaner, alleges in a new video that he was pushed to the frontline with minimal training and says several Indians with him have been killed or are missing.
- India’s Ministry of External Affairs says it has raised the issue with Russian authorities in Delhi and Moscow, reiterating warnings to avoid any offers tied to the Russian military and urging that recruitment stop and affected nationals be released.
- Families describe selling land and paying agents who advertised jobs or study paths, with men reporting seized documents, contracts in Russian, and threats if they refused to fight; official data last given to Parliament in February listed 127 cases, 97 discharges, 12 deaths, and 18 still unaccounted for or in service.