MoS promises return of 2 of 4 Kerala youth forced into Russia-Ukraine war

Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister of State (Mos) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan announced that two of the four youngsters from Kerala who served in the conflict against Ukraine after being enlisted by private agencies into the Russian army will shortly come home to be with their families.

The MoS said on Tuesday evening that the Indian Embassy was readying their travel documents to return from Russia.

“We expect that they will soon return home,” Muraleedharan, who is contesting from the Attingal Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming 2024 general elections, told reporters.

Regarding the remaining two residents of the state, the MoS said the External Affairs Ministry was in talks with the Russian government to bring them back as well.

“Rest assured we are taking strong measures to ensure their return,” he said.

According to the relatives of the three men, he said that they were taken to Russia by a recruitment agency with the promise of a whopping salary of Rs 2.5 lakh.

Earlier, Muraleedharan had said that authorities have launched an investigation into agencies that recruited Indians to go to war-torn Ukraine after luring them with the promise of lucrative jobs in Russia.

He had also said that the Central government was making all possible efforts to bring back all Indians stranded in the conflict zone, and procedures were underway to take legal action against the agencies that recruited them.

With PTI inputs