Overview

• Rakesh Kumar, 30, left Uttarakhand for St. Petersburg University on August 7 on a student visa and soon told relatives that things were not as expected.
• His last direct call on August 30 conveyed that he had been forcibly drafted and faced deployment to Ukraine, after which his phone went unreachable.
• The family later received a photo of him in Russian military uniform and a brief call from an unfamiliar number alleging his passport and documents were seized, emails deleted, and that he trained in Donbas.
• Relatives wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs on September 5 and sought help from the Indian embassy in Moscow and local authorities to secure his return.
• MEA figures state 12 Indians have been killed and 16 are missing, the ministry says recruitment by the Russian military stopped on September 11, and similar coercion claims have been reported by at least 20 Indians, mainly from Punjab and Haryana.