Three young Tamil men from Jaffna and Mullaitivu have found themselves caught in a war they never intended to fight, as they were forcibly recruited into the Russian army in the midst of the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. The men, who initially sought to travel to France and Belgium where they have relatives residing, are now trapped on the frontlines, and their families have urgently appealed to the Sri Lankan government for help in bringing them home.
The young Tamils are markedly different from the hundreds of Sri Lanka soldiers who have reportedly travelled to the region, purposefully looking to enlist.
The ordeal began on October 4, when a young man from the Gurunagar area of Jaffna paid a large sum of 6 million rupees to an agent who promised one of them the opportunity to travel to Belgium while another individual wished to travel to France to be reunited with his sister. The agent who is also from Jaffna told the families that once in Russia, they would be given identification cards that would help them travel to Europe. He had also assured that the Russian counterparts were informed and would do what was needed.
Upon arrival at the Russian airport, the young man, along with a 20-year-old man from Nelliyadi in Jaffna and a father of three from Mullaitivu, were told that they would be escorted to France by a Russian army commander. However, the army officer who met them upon arrival had other plans. The three men were forcibly detained, sent to a military camp, and issued military uniforms. They were subjected to 15 days of compulsory military training before being deployed to the Ukrainian border.
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It was only when the young man from Gurunagar contacted his mother, sending her pictures of him in military uniform, that his family became aware of the shocking situation. In the photos, he appeared to be a part of the Russian army, and it became clear that their loved ones were no longer in France as promised, but were instead entrenched in the middle of a war. The mother of one of the young men recounts emotionally that her son had sent her three SMS after which she has not heard from him at all. "In the last SMS, he says he is trapped and he has no way to get out. He told me that he had been forced to sign documents on the premise they would be transported to Europe, it turned out those were contracts for them to serve in the Russian army for a period of one year. He told me that if he was still alive after a year, he would come looking for me. I want my son back, I don't know where he is."
In response to this distressing turn of events, the relatives of the three men have lodged a formal complaint at the Jaffna Police Station. They have also sent a letter to the President of Sri Lanka through the Governor of the Northern Province, urgently requesting the safe return of their children.
The young Tamils are markedly different from the hundreds of Sri Lanka soldiers who have reportedly travelled to the region, purposefully looking to enlist.
Over this past year, several Sri Lankan soldiers have died fighting on the front lines for both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries. An Al Jazeera report this week detailed the death of the most recent recruit to the Russian army from Sri Lanka. The soldier whose real name has been withheld to protect the identity of his family, enlisted to serve in Russia’s ‘auxiliary force’ on the front lines after quitting Sri Lanka’s armed forces.
Responding to these allegations earlier this year, the Russian Embassy in Colombo rejected allegations was involved in sending Sri Lankans to the war front, stating that the diplomatic mission “possessed neither information about the participation of Sri Lankan nationals on the Russian side, nor any data regarding possible numbers of them”.
“Neither are we aware of a local recruiting agency which ostensibly hires people to join such activities while deceiving about their true nature,” it added.
