16 Telangana men caught up in Russian army recruitment

On September 29, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, seeking the repatriation of the 16.

Hyderabad: At least 16 men in Telangana have been caught up in Russian army recruitment after being promised jobs in Russia by agents.

All the men belong to Nizamabad, Kamareddy and Sircilla districts. Out of these, three people managed to return to Telangana. According to a report by The Times of India, at least four men from Telangana are fighting for Russia against Ukraine.

The Nizamabad police arrested one agent identified as Gaurav for reportedly sending those four to Russia.

On September 29, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, seeking the repatriation of the 16. In his letter, the MP said that families had approached him after the men, who travelled for jobs, were reported to have been pushed into military training.

According to the families’ representations and what the men revealed, agents promised cooking, cleaning, gardening and support jobs in the Russian army.

Instead, they were allegedly put through prolonged physical training, inadequate food, insufficient sleep and poor accommodation.

The men circulated videos and messages seeking help.

The identified people include Domakonda Suresh, Gaddam Shekar, Kodi Govinda, Dhora Golla Balaiah, Goruvanthula Limbadri, Kauda Rajashekar, Varanganti Karthik, Karisinapu Nagarjuna, Rebba Bharath, Kasturi Thirupathi, Santhapuri Raju, Chekrala Chinna Venkat, Bhukya Ravinder, Megavath Prakash, Sirshu Ashok and Mohammed Afzal Khan.

Those who were repatriated include Shekar of Banda Lingapur, Rajashekar of Keshapur and Thirupathi of Darpally.

“Because we needed to repay debts at home, we trusted the agents and got cheated,” Thirupathi was quoted as saying by The Times of India.