Around 2,000 Nepalese were recruited by Russia to fight in the war in Ukraine. Some of them, driven by poverty and the promise of fabulous salaries by their standards, have reported having suffered terrible treatment at the front and are now desperately trying to return home. Ganesh, 35, is one of the few to have succeeded.
In an interview with Sky News he said he fought for four and a half months in Donetsk and claimed that the Nepalese were “treated like dogs”. During his time at the front, he said from Kathmandu, “we were attacked by drones and it was terrifying.”
The man, who said he was relieved but traumatized by his experience on the front line, said he was initially taken to the Avangard training center, a military academy outside Moscow, where he stayed for two weeks. Ganesh already had 10 years of experience in the Indian Army, but many others alongside him were young and inexperienced. Some had never held a weapon before.
Once the training was over, he continued, there was a marked change in the way foreign mercenaries, who were suddenly thrown into the conflict, were treated. “During the first two weeks of training, life was good,” he said, “Ma once we were sent to Ukraine, we didn't have enough food and we were beaten by the Russians. It was really bad.”
The fate of the mercenaries
According to Ganesh, the Nepalese were considered cannon fodder. “The Russian soldiers were behind us. On the front line were the mercenaries,” he added, describing how at the front there were Russian, Nepalese and Indian criminals in front of the army. The mercenary saw three Nepalese killed on the battlefield, but heard of many more casualties.
Ganesh then explained how he ended up fighting in Ukraine, saying he struggled to find work and when he went to an agent for a position in Luxembourg, the agent suggested he go to Russia instead because it was “full of opportunities”.
Ganesh then had to take out a loan and pay himself one million Nepalese rupees (almost 7 thousand euros) to travel to Moscow via Dubai on a tourist visa. The average Nepalese monthly salary is less than 175 euros. But the agent promised him that he could earn almost 2 thousand if he joined the Kremlin campaign. Once in Russia he had to pay another agent almost a thousand euros just to be taken to the training camp.
Sky specifies that theThe figure of 2,000 Nepalese recruited by the Russian army is based on the testimonies of returning soldiers, as well as on Russian immigration data. Many Nepalis have reported receiving student or tourist visas to reach Russia and the Kathmandu government was forced to intervene as it is illegal for citizens of the Himalayan country to fight for foreign armies.
In January the government banned its citizens from traveling to Russia or Ukraine for work and asked Moscow to repatriate all recruited Nepalis. It has also declared 'war' on agents who facilitate recruitment and entry into Russia, with police having already arrested 22 suspects.
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