Two more Indians killed in Russia; India takes stern view 

Tejpal Singh, one of the two Indians recruited by the Russian Army, who was recently killed in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, a relative said.

Tejpal Singh (29), one of the two Indians recruited by the Russian Army, who was recently killed in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, had last spoken with his family on March 3, a relative said.

The identity of the other Indian recruit, also deceased, is yet to be known. Russian authorities are yet to hand over the bodies to the Indian Embassy officials in Moscow, a government source said.

India took a stern view of the Russian Army’s continued recruitment of Indian nationals for the conflict, saying it was not in “consonance” with the India-Russia partnership. Announcing the death of the two nationals, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the matter had been taken up both with the Kremlin in Moscow and with the Russian Ambassador in Delhi directly, calling for the “early release and return” of all Indians in the Russian Army.

“We have expressly told Russian officials that no matter how these Indians have reached the war front and under what circumstances, they should be returned,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told journalists when asked about the latest deaths, adding that India was also trying to halt all illegal recruitment by middlemen in India, who are taking Indians to Russia for jobs with the Russian Army.

In a particularly strong statement on Wednesday, the MEA had said that India has also demanded a “verified stop” to any further recruitment of Indian nationals by the Russian Army. “Such activities would not be in consonance with our partnership,” the MEA said in the statement, indicating that bilateral ties were under a strain over the continued deployment of Indians at the Russia-Ukraine warfront.

Singh, a resident of Amritsar in Punjab, had left India on December 20, 2023. He first went to Thailand, and travelled to Russia on a tourist visa from there.

“He joined the Russian Army and was in regular touch with us. There was no problem. He last spoke with his wife on March 3. After that he has been incommunicado. On June 9, his uncle received a call from an acquaintance that Tejpal is dead,” Harjinder Singh, Tejpal Singh’s brother-in-law, said.