Govt says 20-odd Indian support staff of Russian Army in touch with embassy in Moscow

New Delhi: The government on Thursday stated that ‘20-odd people’ working as members of the support staff of the Russian Army had contacted New Delhi’s diplomatic mission in Moscow and efforts were on for their ‘early discharge’.

“It is our understanding that there are 20-odd people (Indians) who have gone there to work as support staff or as helpers with the Russian army,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), told journalists in New Delhi. “We are trying our level best for their early discharge. We are in regular touch with Russian authorities both here in Delhi and in Moscow."

“They are at various places and our embassy is in touch with the Russian authorities,” he added, without confirming if they were in conflict zones of Ukraine.

A man from Surat in Gujarat, Hemil Mangukiya, was killed at Donetsk in Ukraine during an aerial attack by the East European nation’s troops on the armed forces of Russia last week. He was among the few Indians, who had been deployed with the units involved in Russia’s ‘special military operations’ in Ukraine.