TDS Desk:

He was supposed to be taken to North Macedonia. But the middleman sent him to Russia, where he started working with a company. But after two or three months, he lost his job. As he arrived at the airport to return home, he fell prey to a Russian middleman. He was made to sign a contract. At one point, he realised that he had been ‘sold’ and that he had no way back.

This is the story of a Bangladeshi who joined the Russian army to fight against Ukraine. He did not even tell his family that he had joined the Russian army, so requested that his name and address not be disclosed.

This reporter spoke to this 20-year-old youth and three other Bangladeshis, who joined the Russian army, lured in various ways by brokers. As they shared their stories, their experiences were found to be almost identical. All of them went to Russia through middlemen. They all worked in the same company there. After a few days, they lost their jobs. Then they were duped by middlemen and lured by high salaries and Russian citizenship to join the Russian army on contractual basis.

22-year-old Akram Mia from Brahmanbaria’s Ashuganj lost his life while fighting against Ukraine for Russia. A colleague called his family and informed them of Akram’s death. The numbers of the three youth were collected from that person. This correspondent also talked with family members of Akram Mia. Like these three youths, Akram followed the same trajectory of going to Russia.

Other than Akram, another youth named Yasin Mia Sheikh, 22, from Mymensingh’s Gouripur lost his life while fighting the war for Russia on 27 March.

“THEY’VE SOLD US”

This correspondent had a long Whatsapp conversation on Saturday night with the youth, who did not want to be named. He said that he went to Russia on 8 August, 2024. For this, he had to pay the middleman Tk 800,000. He joined an company there as an electrician.

The salary was supposed to be 40,000-45,000 rubles. After two-three months, the organisation sacked 15-20 of them. Except for two Nepalese and two Indians, the rest were Bangladeshis.

The youth said that four or five of them went to the airport to return home at the end of February. There, a Russian middleman took them to a hotel, promising them work. Then, he took all their documents including their passports, promising to renew their visas. There, three or four Russians took their signatures on a contract.

“They then took us to a jungle and got us to chop down trees. After some days, we saw arms and ammunition being bought. At one point the four left us there. We sensed they had sold us,” said the youth.

The young man said they were taken to war with little training.

“After 20 March, we were provided basic training such as loading the gun and firing for five days and taken to Ukraine on the sixth. None of us perceived that we were being taken to war.”

He said five persons including Sohag Mia from Dhaka, Amit Barua from Rangamati and Ayan Mandal from Gazipur were with him. They were later shifted to different army camps.

At the end of March, they were sent on an operation. They narrowly escaped a missile attack. On 7 or 8 April, they were sent to Luhansk for the second time. Of the 10-12 men team, six have returned while the others remain missing. He had to carry heavy weapons in both operations.

The youth said he is currently at a camp in Ukraine’s Donetsk with 30-40 men. These youth are provided with bread and pasta only.

“The amount of risk and shootings are increasing every day. We are living in grave uncertainty,” said the youth.

“DIDN’T HAVE ANY IDEA THAT WE ARE BEING SENT TO WAR”

The story of the young man, who does not want to be named, is similar to that of Afzal Hossain, 26, of Gopalpur village in Trishal, Mymensingh. He also went to Russia eight or nine months ago to work as a welder. After working in the same company for six months with a salary of Tk 70,000, he lost his job. While unemployed in Moscow for about a month and a half, he met a Russian middleman. He got him into the Russian army by promising him Russian citizenship and a monthly salary of Tk 310,800 in Bangladeshi currency.

Last Sunday, this correspondent spoke to Afzal Hossain several times on WhatsApp. This young man, who studied up to 12th grade, went to Russia through a local middleman.

Afzal Hossain said “I didn’t know that I would be sent to the Russia-Ukraine war. Now I’m stuck. But I have not received any salary till now.”

Afzal, who spoke to the Russian soldiers through a mobile phone translator, said that he is currently in a Russian army camp in Ukraine.

There are 10 or 12 soldiers there. However, he does not know the name of the place. Last Friday, a drone attack was launched on them while they were taking food and ammunition to another camp. However, they survived.

The youth said they were barely provided any training except for very basics such as firing and loading the gun.

Afzal said he was sent on an operation a month ago with a team of nine. One Russian army man was killed by a Ukrainian strike during the operation. Since then he has not been sent to any operation. Currently he is staying in his sixth camp and transporting food and ammunition from one camp to another. He said soldiers are ambushed en route.

Afzal was with Rubel, 29; Imran Hossain, 31; Md Mohsin Mia, 26; and the killed Akram Mia, 22. Others are in a different camp now. Afzal does not have any contact with Imran and Mohsin for 12 to 13 days.

“I secretly contacted 8 to 10 persons including Rubel bhai, Foysal Ahmed and Diganta Bishwas,” Afzal said, assuming that 40 to 50 Bangladeshis are fighting the war in Ukraine right now.

“IN GRAVE DANGER”

This correspondent contacted Ayan Mandal from Gazipur. But he was too scared to talk. He sent seven voice messages secretly.

“We cannot talk over the phone. We have to send voice recordings as we use our phones secretly. We are in grave danger,” said Ayan.

Five months ago, Ayan went to Russia through a middleman, spending Tk 650,000. He also joined the same company like the two others. At one stage, he was also dismissed from the company. At the airport, a Russian middleman promised to give him a job of a cleaner with a salary of 200,000 rubles and made him join the Russian army.

The young man said that he has been trapped for a month. He is currently being trained. As Ayan did not want to go for training, he was tortured. There are five other Bangladeshis with him. Apart from this, there are 15-20 more people in the nearby camp.

These three youths blame the middlemen for their current situation. According to them, the middlemen are knowingly sending people to their deaths. They request the youth not to fall into the trap of being tempted to come to Russia.

These three plead the Bangladesh government to take measures to bring them back to their country.