Nepal calls on the Russian government to stop recruiting Nepalese citizens to participate in Russia's war against Ukraine

The Government of Nepal has called on the Russian Federation to prevent Nepalese citizens from entering and being recruited into the Russian army to participate in the war against Ukraine.

Nepal's ambassador to Russia, Milan Raj Tuladhar, made the statement, the Kathmandu Post reports.

Nepalese law prohibits citizens of the country from serving in foreign armies, except for the Indian and British ones.

However, the representative office in Russia is sending at least one Nepali home. All of them were brought to serve in the Russian army. Tuladhar added that Nepalese citizens are lured with promises of big money and are mostly smuggled into Russia on student and tourist visas.

The day before, a video of an alleged prisoner from Nepal was posted on social media. He said he had studied at a Russian university, and when his visa expired, he joined the Russian army. The 22-year-old also added that there are allegedly more than 500 people like him in the Russian army.

Milan Tuladhar, on the other hand, said that about 150-200 of the mercenaries in Russia are Nepalese. Six of them have already been killed in Ukraine.

It will be recalled that in September 2023, Cuba uncovered a human trafficking network in Russia that illegally recruits Cubans living there to join the war against Ukraine.