Foreign soldiers say they were misled into joining Russian forces
The Russian military is increasingly using recruits from Serbia, Cuba, and African countries to fight in its war against Ukraine, the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote on June 12, citing recent media reports.
At least 22 Sri Lankan citizens who joined the Russian military have escaped and returned to Sri Lanka, the country’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Nalin Herath told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in a recent interview.
Russia "duped" many Sri Lankans into serving in the Russian military, Herath said.
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This prompted Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tharaka Balasuriya, in a June 11 meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, to reach an agreement with Moscow to stop recruiting its citizens into the Russian military.
"Many people have (economic) problems," 37-year-old hotel driver Anil Madusanka said in an interview published by France 24 on June 12. He managed to return to Sri Lanka and is now recovering at his home outside Colombo after seven terrifying weeks in Russia.
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"That's why they go to Russia or Ukraine."
He thought he would trade driving tourists for a promised job as a driver in Russia, but instead he was handed an assault rifle and sent to the front lines to face Ukrainian forces. Madusanka was hospitalized with a shrapnel wound and managed to escape from a hospital to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Moscow, which arranged for his repatriation last month.
"I am lucky to have escaped," he said.
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