’15 Punjabi youths were trafficked in July’: Punjab MLA Pargat Singh urges immediate govt intervention to prevent recruitment of Indians into Russian Army

“The continued inaction of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Moscow constitutes a breach of duty and an intolerable dereliction of responsibility. As government agencies persist in issuing ineffective advisories, our youths are dying on foreign battlefields while families are left unsupported, uninformed, and denied even the dignity of adequate investigation or compensation,” he told reporters in Chandigarh.

Pargat Singh said that 15 Punjabi youths were taken to Russia in July 2025 under false job promises; and by August, five were dead, three missing, and seven were forcibly conscripted.

“Across North India, 126 youths remain trapped in the Russian Army, and at least 15 are missing. Not a single substantive step has been taken to punish the nexus of agents responsible for these crimes, nor to repatriate stranded Indians or deliver justice to bereaved families,” he said.

The MLA stated that these are not isolated cases of fraud, but a coordinated, large-scale operation that the Indian system has utterly failed to acknowledge or combat. “The Punjab Government’s ongoing delay in prosecuting the agents, whose criminal exploitation even robs families of death benefits and insurance payouts, is inexcusable and unacceptable,” he said.

The MLA said the testimony of survivors and relatives talks about being completely abandoned by the Indian Embassy, suffering immense psychological and financial distress with no government recourse.

Pargat Singh demanded direct diplomatic engagement with Russian authorities at the highest level to secure the release and repatriation of all Indian nationals.

He also asked for immediate legal proceedings—under anti-human trafficking statutes—against all agents and those complicit in this organized crime, and expedited compensation and ongoing support for families who have lost loved ones or whose relatives are missing.

“There must be the formation of a joint task force, a binding commitment from the Centre, the Punjab Government, and the Ministry of External Affairs, to ensure a permanent end to such exploitation. Anything less than decisive, public government intervention now would be a willful continuation of this human tragedy,” he said.

The Central Government, in December last year, told the Lok Sabha that only 19 Indian nationals are serving in the Russian armed forces and others have been discharged.

From the homepage

‘Voice of people is being suppressed’: AAP’s Sanjay Singh, others ‘detained’ in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda

Key central committee man among 10 Naxals gunned down in Chhattisgarh

Rifle recovered, suspect ‘fired from rooftop’: Trump ally Charlie Kirk shot dead | Top updates