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Youths stuck in Russia: Safe after Indian embassy’s intervention: Haryana youth’s kin
Sahil Kumar, brother of Harsh Kumar from Karnal’s Sambhli village, who made the SOS video seeking government’s help to return to India, met Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia with his family. Sahil said that the situation has improved after the intervention of the Indian embassy and the men, including his brother, have been sent to a camp.
Days after seven men from Punjab and Haryana were reported to be forcibly inducted into the Russian military service, the family members of one of the men from Haryana on Thursday claimed that they have been sent to a camp and are safe after the intervention of the Indian embassy.
Sahil Kumar, brother of Harsh Kumar from Karnal’s Sambhli village, who made the SOS video seeking government’s help to return to India, met Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia with his family. Sahil said that the situation has improved after the intervention of the Indian embassy and the men, including his brother, have been sent to a camp.
“On Wednesday evening, we received an intimation from the Indian authorities on our requests that their embassy in Russia has established a contact with them. Soon after, Harsh and his friends were taken to a Russian training camp, away from war zone. The situation is better now but they all are nervous about what may happen next,” Sahil told the HT.
Speaking to reporters, Bhatia said that the men had gone incommunicado and later the family members got to know about their whereabouts through the video.
“I’ll write to the ministry of external affairs to pursue the matter in an urgent manner. I believe pressuring them to fight the war is wrong and against human rights. If required, I’ll meet the officials concerned personally,” he said.
Speaking to HT over the phone, Harsh said, “We are in constant touch with the embassy and are currently 15 to 20 minutes of drive from Donetsk in Ukraine, but safer. We were arrested on January 12 and the situation has been tense since then.”
Among the seven, five are from Punjab and the other two are from Haryana. They had released two videos this week and in one of them, circulated widely on X, the seven youths seen in uniform claimed that they were forced by the police either to join the Russian army or face 10-year imprisonment.
On Wednesday, Harsh’s parents Suresh and Suman urged the Indian embassy and the Centre to rescue the youths from the conflict zone and claimed that they went to Russia in December last year on visitor visa.
“An agent offered them to be taken to Belarus and they went to the country without visas because they did not know they needed a visa there. They were caught by the police in the jungles that handed them over to the Russian authorities, who made them sign some documents against their will. After 15 days of military training, now they are being forced to fight against Ukraine,” they had said.
