On the biting afternoon of February 5 this year, Prince Sebastian fastened the heavy straps of his safety armour. The 15 kilograms of steel and Kevlar was slowing him down along with the AK-47, foreign and formidable, that hung awkwardly from a shoulder. He also had on him gadgets as part of military kit, small arms and ammunition. 

A 25-year-old fisherman from Anchuthengu, a sleepy coastal village in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, Prince was more used to casting nets from a boat than the brutal recoil of assault rifles aimed at distant, indistinct enemies. Never in his life had he imagined himself as a soldier, fighting a long drawn out war thousands of kilometres away from his homeland, that too for a country he had nothing to do with—Russia. 

Just as the combat unit he was part of, comprising 30 men – including his cousin Vineeth Silva – clambered down from armoured tanks right on to the war front, Lysychansk in Ukraine, a volley of bullets rained on them. One pierced through his left ear. As the jittery men scrambled for cover, a drone appeared, dropping off a grenade over his Russian colleague, shredding him into pieces. Prince, hit by shrapnels, fell down bleeding. 

It was his first day at the Russia-Ukraine war front. 

After a series of dramatic events, Prince, his cousin Vineeth Silva and friend Tinu Paniyadima, are back in their hometown, traumatised and full of battle-scarred tales of their surreal life in Russia.  

But fate was not kind to other victims of human trafficking, run by a gang which recruited several Keralites to Russia.

On August 19, KC Chandran, a native of Trikkur village in Thrissur district, received an official confirmation that his son Sandeep Chandran, 36, died following an Ukrainian drone attack. The family was in agony ever since Sandeep, an electrician, went incommunicado weeks after he landed in Moscow for the cherished job in April 2024. Sandeep had moved to Russia along with his bosom friend Santhosh on the promise of a high salary to work as support staff for the Russian military.

Despite efforts by the Indian embassy in Russia and the Union government, the body of Sandeep is not yet home. As per the information shared by the Indian embassy to the family, it is currently lying in the Russian city Rostov-on-Don.

Sandeep’s unfortunate death happened weeks after Prime Minister Narendran Modi made a request to President Vladimir Putin, during his Russian visit in July, to release all Indians recruited to the Russian Army.

“Sandeep and my brother Santhosh were colleagues and close friends. This job offer came through an agent in Chalakudy. They were promised jobs as electricians for the Russian Army. Shortly after training, Sandeep was taken to some other location. The news of his death shattered my brother,” said Satheesh, brother of Santhosh Shanmukhan.  

Forty-year-old Santhosh, a native of Kodakara, is currently stuck in Bakhmut, a Ukrainian city under Russian control. Santhosh and another Thrissur native Remil Thomas are staying in a war-torn apartment, which is around 5-6 km from the warfront. However, the area is not safe due to recurring drone attacks.

When asked why Santhosh chose the job in a war-hit country, Satheesh said his brother was under heavy debt. “The agent agreed to arrange the visa for Rs 80,000. He was offered a monthly salary of Rs 2 lakh. Around Rs 4 lakh was credited initially. But after that he got only Rs 57,000, that too in two instalments,” Satheesh said.  

Santheesh said Santhosh was able to contact the family only when the Russian army operated power generators in their building. “He is scared to share pictures and other details as they are under constant watch of the army,” he said. His family had met local MLAs and MPs seeking support to bring back Santhosh. 

Two others – Binil and Jane – natives of Kuttallor and Kuravancherry in Malappuram district, recently sent a video to various media groups seeking help to return to the country. “We were with the slain Sandeep. We need to come back home immediately. We can’t stay here in this condition,” they said in a short video shot in an unidentified location.  Satheesh said that Binil and Jane are at huge risk as they were assigned with the task of serving food to the army on the war front.

The great escape

Prince learned about the job offer in Russia from a painter who was employed  during the renovation of Vineeth’s house. He introduced them to Priyan, an agent, who demanded Rs 7 lakh. “He said that we will get a monthly pay of Rs 2.5 lakh for working as security personnel in Russia. We borrowed money from various sources and paid. We got tourist visas. But we trusted Priyan when he said that it would be converted to a work visa once we reach there," said Prince.

They became suspicious when the authorities in Russia made them sign an undertaking to work for the army. "But a Malayali agent in Russia told us that there was nothing wrong in signing it," said Prince, who has studied only till Class X. Prince and Vineeth were sent to a military camp together while Tinu was taken to another camp. The training lasted a month. 

"On February 5, they asked Vineeth to get ready for the war and told me to stay back to take care of injured soldiers. But I was not ready to leave him. So we both went. The grenade attack left me with 18 wounds in both the legs and stomach. My face was disfigured," said Prince. 

Prince, who was bleeding all over, had to crawl over dead bodies which lay scattered. "Many of them were headless and dismembered bodies. I even had to lie spread across dead bodies for some time. As drones reappeared, I crawled again. I was calling out for Vineeth. By around 8pm, I found him. He had fallen into a ditch. We found a trench and stayed in it till morning. I used my pocket torch to check injuries and took some painkillers. In the morning, we crawled on our bellies for around 3 km till the Russian army found us,” said Prince, who is recuperating at his house in Anchuthengu.

While undergoing treatment at a Russian hospital, Prince plotted a plan to escape to India with the support of a person, who worked as a translator for the Russian army. He sought permission to go back home on leave as a temporary measure due to his his injury. Using this, he approached the Indian Embassy. 

Prince said that he initially didn't get much support from the embassy staff. However, things changed after the news of his injury spread. "Union Minister S Jaishankar called the Embassy and directed them to arrange my transportation. It was the sole reason I could get here without a passport," said Prince. At Delhi airport, CBI took a statement from Prince as part of their investigation into human trafficking. His travel from Delhi to Kerala was arranged by the Norka on April 3. 

Prince, after reaching Kerala, took help from his translator friend to arrange the return trip of Vineeth and Tinu.

Efforts to bring Indians back

The death of Sandeep sent shock waves among families of other victims stuck in Russia. They have now begun frantic attempts to bring them back.  

On August 30, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, requesting the Union Government to take steps to bring back the stranded Keralites and mortal remains of Sandeep. The CM's letter also urged speedy intervention to bring back Santhosh Shanmukhan, Renil Thomas and Sibi Babu. "It is learned that they reached Russia through illegal channels. They were trafficked by illegal recruitment agencies and individuals. It has to be found out how many are stuck in Russia," he wrote.

When the presence of Indians in the Russian army raised questions back in July, Russia's Charge d'affaires Roman Babushkin told the media that they never wanted the Indians to be part of its army. He said the Russian authorities had never made any announcement for recruitment. According to Babushkin, Indians who were recruited as support staff were working illegally without proper work visas. 

A report published by the Wire on August 26 said at least 91 Indians are working with the Russian Army and eight Indian nationals have been killed so far.

Like most people of his age, 26-year-old Tinu Paniyadima has seen wars only on television and films. However, in January this year, a job offer landed him right in the middle of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Tinu was among the scores of job fraud victims from Kerala who were forced to take up arms for the Russian Army.

Tinu said that they reached Russia to work as security staff in an army camp. However, the army began imparting training for the battle. “We were given all sorts of training, tank warfare, launching grenades and firing guns for 15 days. There was training on administering first aid too,” he said.

Tinu, his friend Prince Sebastian and Prince’s cousin Vineeth Silva were taken to different locations after the training. Tinu said he hasn’t yet found courage to share what he went through on the war front. “There were dead bodies all around. I have never ever experienced death on such a massive scale,” said Tinu, who reached home in April. Now he has restarted fishing, his traditional job, at Anchuthengu.

Tinu, hesitant about divulging details, said it was a Tamil Nadu native, who worked as a translator with the Russian Army who helped them. “Communication was the major hurdle. So we used google translator on the phone. We sought leave as we were injured. Prince was the first to come back. Later, I was granted leave considering my hand injury,” said Tinu. Vineeth arrived in mid-April. Now all youngsters from Anchuthengu are safely back in their homes, though with deep emotional scars.

Illegal recruitment 

As the recruitment happened through illegal routes, the authorities do not have a clear idea regarding the number of Keralites who are stuck there or have returned so far. Ajith Kolassery, CEO of Non-Resident Keralites' Affairs (NORKA), said that less than 10 Keralites are stuck in Russia as of now. He said some were lured by money and had signed an undertaking. “Some have even received Russian citizenship,” he said. 

In July, CBI claimed of busting a human trafficking network and arrested two agents involved in the crime. Arun Norbert and Yesudas Junior alias Priyan, both residents of Thiruvananthapuram, were arrested under sections 370 (trafficking), 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code. Later, two others, Nijil Jobi Bensam, a native of Kanyakumari, and Anthony Michael Elangovan, resident of Mumbai, were arrested in connection with the trafficking of Anchuthengu residents. The CBI investigation is still going on.