Moscow, Oct 22: Owing to PM Modi’s intervention and talk with Russian President V Putin, as many as 85 Indian nationals serving in Russian Military services, have been discharged from the Russian Army, prior to their superannuation.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri informed, while efforts are on to secure the release of 20 more Indians yet who are serving Russia with challenging their lives amid the wrath of conflicts, at least 85 are to return safelty to their soil.
The Indian side is in "very close touch" with interlocutors in the foreign and defence ministries of Russia on the issue of Indians "who were, illegally or otherwise, contracted into fighting in the Russian Army", Misri said at a media briefing on Modi's visit to Russia for the BRICS Summit.
Worth mentioning, Modi had strongly raised the issue of early discharge of the Indian nationals working in the Russian Army during his talks with Putin in Moscow in July.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan.
Mourning the matydom of some warriors Misri said, “We have also had the return of some mortal remains of people who lost their lives during the conflict whereas Nine Indians have died while serving in the Russian Army.
" We are pressing our interlocutors for an early discharge of all remaining Indians in the armed forces there," he said.
Earlier in August, the Russian embassy said Moscow and New Delhi are working in close coordination for an early "identification and discharge" of the Indian nationals who voluntarily joined contractual work in the military services and now keen to return home amid the escalating tension between Russia and Ukrane.
Acting on it, the ministry of defence of the Russian Federation has stopped recruiting citizens of a number of foreign countries, including India, into the military service, from last April.
