Randeep Surjewala writes to EAM for safe return of Haryana youths stuck in war-torn Russia

Karnal, April 9

In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Congress MP Randeep Surjewala has sought the ministry’s intervention in bringing back Haryana’s youth who are stuck in war-torn Russia.

He highlighted the issue that they were being forced to serve on the war front by the Russian Army. He had met their family members on Monday and assured them to raise their issue with the Ministry of External Affairs.

Sharing the contact numbers of their family members with the minister, he wrote, “I request the minister to take up the matter with your Russian counterpart, and also assign our consulate/ ambassador to provide all assistance to bring them back.”

The list of eight youths includes Baldev (32), Rajender (30), Mohit (22), Manjeet (22), Sahil (22), Ravi (24), all residents of Mator village in Kaithal district, while Mandeep is from Fatehabad and Harsh (19) is from Sambli in Karnal district.

“For the last 15-days, all these boys have been living in the city of Donetsk, Ukraine, and are being forced to serve on the war front by the Russian Army. They are living in inhuman conditions and are being tortured. They have access to limited food and are in dire straits,” Surjewala wrote in the letter to the minister.

Surjewala said that due to rampant unemployment in India, these youths paid Rs 8-10 lakh each for a transportation job in Russia. A person named, Ankit, who had taken the money from the boys is already in Russia.