Nepal’s Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud in an interview with the Associated Press said bodies of those who died in the conflict should be returned to the country.
Nepal has asked Russia to send back hundreds of Nepali nationals who were recruited to fight against Ukraine.
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud in an interview with the Associated Press said bodies of those who died in the conflict should be returned to the country.
The Russian army is estimated to have recruited more than 200 Nepali nationals to fight in Ukraine and at least 14 of them have died there, Saud said.
“We have asked Russia to immediately stop the recruitment of Nepali nationals in their army, immediately return those who are already serving in the army, repatriate the bodies of those killed, and treat and return those who were wounded in the fighting,” Saud said.
In September, Cuban authorities arrested 17 people in connection with what they said was a network to recruit Cuban nationals to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree that speeds up the path to Russian citizenship for foreigners who enlist in the country’s military as Moscow tries to replenish its troops in Ukraine by various methods, including the recruitment of migrants.
Ukraine is also believed to have hired some Nepalis to fight as soldiers, but Saud said he did not have more information on this.
Nepal’s government has banned its citizens from travelling to Russia or Ukraine for employment, saying many have been recruited by the Russian army to fight in the conflict in Ukraine.
Tens of thousands of Nepalis go abroad in search of work each year and are required to get a permit from the government before leaving the country for employment. Those who made it to Russia are believed to have travelled through a third country pretending to be tourists before flying to Russia.
Saud met with Russian officials on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement conference in Uganda earlier this month and discussed the issues with them.
“We have clearly conveyed to them that our citizens are not allowed to be recruited in the army and to immediately send them back,” Saud said.
For centuries, Nepali nationals were recruited by the British army to fight as famed Gurkha soldiers and later by India when it gained independence from Britain.
That arrangement was made in 1816 after signing a treaty between Nepal and Britain.
https://apnews.com/article/