Foreign nationals are tricked into fighting for Russia on the Ukrainian front

In India's Telangana, a man is desperately trying to get his brother back from the frontline of Russian forces in Ukraine after he was tricked into working for Russia during the attack on the neighboring country. As Voice of America correspondent Henry Wilkins reports, experts say that such tricks are indeed used by Russia, while explaining why it deceives foreign nationals to participate in this war.

Salman Zahur Sayyed says his brother was tricked into working on the front lines for Russia during the attack on Ukraine.

He went to Russia after being promised to work for the government, with a salary of about two thousand dollars a month and the possibility of obtaining Russian citizenship. When he arrived, he signed a contract. Then, things started to get worse.

"When my brother and others realized what was happening, they were told that they will have to fight whenever the army needs them, since they had already signed the documents," says Mr. Sayyed.

He says that the contract was in Russian and that his brother had no way of understanding it.

Although his brother is part of the support forces and not part of the combat units, he has been on the front near Kherson and just two months ago saw how twenty Indians, Nepalese and Russians were killed by a Ukrainian drone attack.

According to analysts, hundreds of people from countries such as India, Nepal and Cuba have been tricked into joining Russian forces in Ukraine. They say evidence shows Russia is increasing the practice.

"Sometimes these methods resemble human trafficking, as the Russians target people who want to leave their country. Indians want to find opportunities to leave India and they basically lured them. They were deceived," says Milosz Bartosiewicz, from the Center for Eastern Studies.

Another expert told VOA that it is common for warring countries to recruit foreign nationals, but that according to her historical analysis of the past two centuries, tricking recruits into working in war zones has rarely been used in the past. .

"The reason why this is not done is because there are deep political costs. Thus you get soldiers who are not good at all, who have no desire to fight, because they did not come there to fight. So there is no significant benefit. This is a rare phenomenon, and it tells us how much Putin believes the Russian military can handle in Ukraine and what it needs to win — so how big the gap is," says Elizabeth MF Grasmeder, of Duke University.

Mr. Sayyed says his brother doesn't even know if he's being paid.

"They have not had the opportunity to check if they have received any payment in the bank, as they are far from civilization in the forests. The agents may have deceived them by giving them incorrect bank details," he says. Mr. Sayyed says the only way to connect with his brother is when a Russian soldier leaves his phone for him to talk to. /VOA