Sahil Mohammad Hussain, a student hailing from Morbi district, Gujarat, who had gone to Russia in 2024 for a part-time job in a courier company, has landed in captivity of Ukrainian forces. In a video released by Ukrainian authorities recently, Hussain shared that he had gone to Russia in 2024 to both study and do a part-time job, but he was framed by Russian cops in a narcotics case and later he was asked to join the Russian military, if he wants the cases to be dropped. “They told me the case would be dropped if I joined the Russian Army,” he said in the video. He further shared that he agreed to join the military, so that he won’t be put in jail, but the first thing he did when he reached the frontline was he surrendered to the Ukrainian Army.
Are Indians in Russia being forced to join the military?
Hussain is heard in the video requesting the Modi government to help him return India safely, he even said, “President Putin was in India recently. I would like to request the government to speak to Putin for my safe return home,”. Talking about the feat of life and safety, he advised young Indians like him to avoid traveling to Russia, “I feel hopeless. I don’t know what will happen. But I do have a message for young people who are coming to Russia, ‘be careful’. There are many scamsters here who can falsely implicate you in a drug case,”.
Sharing more details of how he landed in the drug case, he pointed out visa issues and financial problems, forcing him to come in contact with people who are drug peddlers, “I came to Russia for studies in 2024. But due to financial and visa issues, I came in touch with some Russians who turned out to be in narcotics. I have not done anything. At least 700 people were jailed by Russia on drugs charges. But the jail authorities gave them a choice of getting the charges dropped by joining the Russian military,”.
