Russia is mocking the Nepalese it recruited to fight – NYT

Russia is mocking Nepalese it recruited for war, – NYT Irina Martsiyash

Russia is recruiting Nepalese for war/Collage 24 Channel (Photo AFP, Shutterstock (Sachin Khadka))

Russia is actively recruiting Nepalese to the war in Ukraine. So, they are promised huge money and an expedited procedure for obtaining a Russian passport.

The New York Times writes about this.

Nepalese at war

The publication told the story of Nepalese Krishna Bahadur Shahi, who went to the front , believing that he would not be sent to combat positions.

Shahi is trapped in a shady, predatory underworld of human traffickers from Nepal who supply foreign fighters to the Russian army for its war in Ukraine. The Nepalese government tried to shut down this pipeline. But the Russian army continues to rely on it, increasing its fighting power with the help of impoverished young foreigners, although many, like the Shahs, said they did not know they would go into battle, the material says.

< p>As they write in the NYT, the man faced financial difficulties and this is what forced him to join the ranks of the Russian army. He met human traffickers who quickly organized his flight to Moscow and such a deal turned out to be profitable for him, because he paid $5,600, and in Russia he had to earn $2,200 a month as a contract soldier, working as a security guard at the base, as he promised, and not on the front line.

In addition, the publication noted that he was promised Russian citizenship as a reward for military service.

After two weeks of basic training—though he said he was promised three months—he was told he was going to a forward position near Donetsk, a Ukrainian city occupied by Russian troops. He tried to protest and said that it would be better to sit in prison, but this was not an option, because even prisoners there are sent to the front line, writes NYT.

The publication wrote, quoting the Nepalese said that prisoners usually drank a lot of alcohol and were hostile towards Nepalese. Shahi said that they constantly hit them on their helmets, stabbed them with rifle butts and shouted at them in Russian.

After this, the Nepalese decided that he wanted to run away and return to Moscow, paying 4000 euros to “black carriers”. First he got to Mariupol, and then secretly wanted to cross the Russian border, but there he and a group of other Nepalese were detained and beaten.

Subsequently they appeared Russian policemen. Shahi pleaded for mercy, saying they were just Nepalese students trying to get to Europe. But while they were waiting in the Mariupol pre-trial detention center, police received an email bulletin from the Russian army saying they were looking for Nepalese deserters. The game is over, the material says.

It is noted that Russian soldiers sent them to a forward position in Donetsk. According to him, they had almost no food or water. They ate ice and frozen beef stews, which was contrary to the Shahi Hindu religion.

The NYT added that within a few days, Russian army commanders took them out and ordered them to storm the Ukrainian line trenches, where he received gunshot wounds to the arm and leg. The Russians gave him first aid, and then sent him to the hospital, from where the man escaped and returned to Nepal.