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NEW DELHI: India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday warned Indian nationals against offers to join the Russian army amid new media reports that recruitment was continuing despite Moscow’s assurances that it had stopped enlisting Indian citizens.

Testimonies of Indian men hired as “army security helpers” for Russian troops and their families made the rounds in the media last year, when reports emerged that they had been sent to the frontlines of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The issue was raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Moscow in July 2024 and a month later Russia’s embassy issued a statement saying it no longer admitted Indians into its army.

But this week, Indian media reported that a number of Indian nationals were again caught on the battlefield in Ukraine. The Hindu daily spoke to two of them, who claimed with another 13 Indians that they had been “forced to serve on the Russian side,” and that all of them had gone to Moscow this year, arriving on student or visitor visas.

“We have seen reports about Indian nationals having been recruited recently into the Russian army,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

“We once again strongly urge all Indian nationals to stay away from any offers to join the Russian army as this is a course fraught with danger.”

The ministry said it was “in touch with the families of the affected Indian citizens” and had “taken up the matter with Russian authorities, both in Delhi and Moscow, asking that this practice be ended and that our nationals be released.”

The sources cited in The Hindu report claimed they had been duped into serving in the army after being hired by an agent to work as construction workers.

Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, president of the Congress party in Punjab, on Thursday shared on social media a recording showing three Indian men in fatigues, who say in Punjabi that they were deceived into being sent to the Russian frontline.

“Received their SOS messages on social media,” Warring wrote on X. “Will escalate to Foreign Ministry to ensure their safe return.”

BARCELONA: Spanish sports minister Pilar Alegria said late on Wednesday night that Israeli teams should be banned from sports in the same way that Russian sides broadly were in 2022 after the country’s invasion of Ukraine, highlighting a “double standard.”
The presence of a team named Israel-Premier Tech at the Vuelta a Espana cycling grand tour has led to huge protests in Spain, whose government has described Israel’s offensive in Gaza as “a genocide.”
Israel-Premier Tech is a private outfit owned by billionaire Israeli-Canadian property developer Sylvan Adams, not a state team, but has been hailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to quit the Vuelta despite vehement protests.
“It is difficult to explain and understand that there is a double standard,” Alegria told Spanish radio station Cadena SER.
“Given that there has been such a massacre, a genocide, such an absolutely terrible situation we are living through day-by-day, I would agree that the international federations and committees should take the same decision as in 2022,” she added.
“No team, no club from Russia participated in an international competition, and when the individuals participated they did it under a neutral flag and without a national anthem.”
Alegria said she would like Vuelta organizers to block Israel-Premier Tech from competing but accepted that such a decision could only be taken by cycling world governing body UCI.
Logical Protests
Various stages of the Vuelta have been affected by protests, with stages 11 and 16 shortened during racing, while Thursday’s stage 18 time trial has also been cut short in advance for security reasons.
Alegria said she hopes the race can be completed, with Sunday’s final stage heading into Madrid expected to be targeted by various protests.
“It would not be good news if the race cannot finish,” said Alegria.
“However what we’re seeing these days with the protests is in my opinion logical,” she added.
“(The protests) are a clear representation of what the people feel, sport cannot be distanced from the world that surrounds it.”
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s leftist coalition government has taken one of Europe’s strongest pro-Palestinian stances, straining ties with Israel.
“(Israel) have killed more than 60,000 people, children, babies starving to death, hospitals destroyed,” added Alegria.
“So it is important that sport, given this situation, takes a position at least similar to what it did against Russia.”