One man from Telangana named Mohammed Sufiyan and three men from Karnataka were allegedly tricked by a YouTube channel run by Faizal Khan into joining the Russian army in Ukraine after being promised jobs as army security helpers in Russia. The four men are currently stuck near the war-torn Ukraine border in Russia forcibly fighting in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war against their will. They have urged the government of India to rescue them.
Mohammed Sufiyan along with three others flew to Russia on December 23 last year. They were promised the job of a security helper but instead, they were sent to the frontline to fight the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
The scam came to the fore after one of the stranded men, Mohammed Sufiyan from Telangana, sent an SOS message to his family saying that they had become victims of a fake army job racket and urging that they should be immediately rescued. He revealed how more than a dozen youths were duped and brought to Russia where they were drafted in Wagner and forced to fight for Russia.
Dressed in army attire, Sufiyan revealed they were forced to take part in Russia’s war with Ukraine against their will after an agent called ‘Baba’ promised they would serve as army assistants. He escaped and sought help from the embassy to come back to India.
Reportedly, Sufiyan and the other men were working in Dubai earlier, where they earned between Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000. The agent had promised them earnings as high as Rs 2 lakh in Russia. Each of them was allegedly charged Rs 3.5 lakh by the agent for the security helper job.
Imran, the brother of Sufiyan told ANI, “My brother was taken by Baba Blocks Company, which has offices in Dubai, Delhi, and Mumbai. The first batch went out on November 12, 2023. A total of 21 youths were sent and Rs 3 lakh was taken from each one of them. They were made to sign an agreement in Russia on November 13. The agents told the youth that they would get the job as army helpers, but were eventually drafted into the army and were deployed inside the Ukrainian borders.”
“The agents gave the wrong translations of the documents to them. They were told that it was the job of army helpers. But, two days later, they were taken for military training. Even when the youths protested, the Indian agents again misguided them, saying that it was only part of the training and they wouldn’t be sent to the frontlines,” Imran added.
India Today spoke to a youth from Uttar Pradesh, who is also trapped in Russia. He revealed how he and the other youths were duped by a YouTube channel named Baba Blocks Company run by Faizal Khan from Maharashtra.
The youth is heard narrating how he along with two others were duped into the fake army job scam. Detailing the sequence of events he said that in August last year, he spoke to the recruiters running Baba Blocks Company on YouTube. On November 11, he was booked on a connecting flight. When he landed in Chennai he met two other youths who had fallen prey to the same scam. One was a youth from Hyderabad named Mohammed Ashfan and the other one named Zahoor Ahmed was from Kashmir.
He added that they reached Moscow, Russia’s capital city on November 12, 2023. “There we were received by two men”, the youth said, further revealing that there is a string of agents who are working together.
The youth further said that the next day they were taken to the recruitment centre where they were made to sign the contract. “The documents were in the Russian language. We were not explained what was written in the contract.. no one translated it for us. The agents who took us there made us sign the papers. Until then also we were not told that we would be joining the Wagner army at the war frontline.
“Two days later, we were taken for military training. When we protested, our Indian agents again misguided us, saying that it was only part of the training and we wouldn’t be sent to the frontlines.”
“After 15 days, we were sent to a camp in the middle of a jungle, almost 40 km away from the Ukraine border, where the colonels snatched our passports and documents. We contacted our agents and told them that we were being sent to the frontline to fight the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and that we did not wish to join the Wagner Group, but the agent kept assuring us that we would have to work as security helpers.”
He added that on January 4, the youths were separated and sent with different groups to the frontline to fight the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The petrified youth urged that they be rescued.
After the incident came to light, the Karnataka state government wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), requesting the rescue of the three people from Karnataka who are alleged to have been coerced into fighting in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Priyank Kharge, the state minister, stated that he has urged the Centre to take immediate action to resolve the matter and save the lives of the young men.
“After it came to our notice that they have been recruited into the Wagner Group (a private military allegedly funded by the Russian government) for war with Ukraine, our Deputy Commissioner (Kalaburagi) as per protocol has written a letter to the Central government’s External Affairs Ministry representative here in Bengaluru,” Kharge said.
“There is information that it (such job fraud) has happened in several places – Telangana, Karnataka, and also several places in north India. Whatever it is, taking someone to war by cheating or through fraudulent means (is wrong). The Central government has to take this seriously and should come to their rescue immediately,” Kharge added.
Priyank went on to add that he has asked Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress and his father, to take up the matter with S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs.
Priyank Kharge’s request came days after AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi raised the issue and urged the Central government to talk with the Russian government and bring back the youths.
“The Narendra Modi government should hold talks with the Russian government and bring back the 12 youths trapped in the Russia-Ukraine war,” AIMIM posted on X.
Notably, these are not the only youths who have been duped into joining the Russian army. In fact, in December last year, the Nepal police detained 10 people, who were accused of charging unemployed youths a handsome amount for travel visas and then sending them to Russia where they were illegally drafted into the Russian army.
Kathmandu District Police Chief Bhupendra Khatri, giving details of the scam, said, the detainees illegally charged each person up to USD 9,000 and sent them to Russia on tourist visas, mainly through the UAE. They were then recruited into the Russian army.”
“It is a case of human smuggling … organised crime,” he added.