Families of Indians duped into Russia’s war hope Modi will bring them home

Nearly 50 Indian families are in limbo after their men were tricked into fighting for Russia on the front lines with Ukraine.

Kalimpong, India – Ambika Tamang was never sold on her husband Urgen Tamang’s plan to move to Russia for a better-paying job amid the country’s war on Ukraine.

But she could not do much given his insistence, she said, and bid a rushed goodbye to him on January 18 this year.

“It was needed for our family,” Ambika, 44, told Al Jazeera at her home in Kalimpong, a picturesque town nestled in the Neora Valley of the Himalayas in eastern India’s West Bengal state. “Our daughters’ upbringing needed that money.”

That need had Urgen working as a private security guard in the western state of Gujarat, about 2,270km (1,410 miles) away from home. And that was what made him move to Russia, Ambika said, after paying an agent 600,000 Indian rupees ($7,180) from the family’s savings.

Urgen had never been to a foreign land before. Two weeks in, he found himself on the bloody front lines of Russia’s continuing war on Ukraine.

The Tamang family felt duped. Thousands of miles away from the war front, Ambika keeps a close tab on the foreign conflict.

“He never wanted to do this. This is not our war,” she told Al Jazeera. “I fear for his safe return.”

Like the Tamangs, nearly 50 Indian families are in limbo after their relatives were duped into fighting for Russia on the front lines with Ukraine. At least four such recruits have died while hopes of the safe return of others had remained feeble. Until now.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Moscow since the war broke out more than two years ago looks set to secure the release of dozens of men, who were duped by agents offering jobs and allegedly