Nepali mercenaries fight for Russia

Nepali mercenaries lured by promises of a passport and cash are fighting for Russia in Ukraine.

While Nepali soldiers-for-hire can bank in a month nearly double what they could earn in a year back home, conditions are brutal and many have been killed or wounded.

“I watched my friends die in front of me,” said Surya Sharma, who asked to use a pseudonym for legal reasons.

Shortly after the 24-year-old underwent basic training with Russian forces, his unit was attacked on their way to a frontline in eastern Ukraine.

“When the bombs and bullets were raining, I thought my life was ending, that that was it,” he said. “I was there to die.”

Combining tough Himalayan terrain with grinding poverty, Nepal has long been a source of ferocious soldiers to fight others’ wars, with the British army’s Gurkhas the best-known example.

But it is only legal for Nepalis to sign up for combat with a foreign military if there is a government agreement in place – which only applies to Britain and India.

From early on in its war in Ukraine, Russia has used mercenaries, including the paramilitary group Wagner, before its aborted mutiny last June.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine will provide figures for how many foreign fighters are in their militaries, nor the number they are holding as prisoners of war.

But the Nepali government says more than 200 of the country’s citizens have enlisted in the Russian army.

Sharma believes there could be 10 times as many, including students, ex-soldiers and even former Maoist combatants.

“We were among the early ones to join, but now there are many Nepalis, there must be 2,500 to 3,000,” he said.

At least 12 Nepalis have been killed and another five are prisoners of war in Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu said.

Returnees say the true number of dead is also much higher, and according to local media Nepalis have fought for Ukraine too.

To attract fighters, Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered Russian citizenship, which allows recipients to work, on top of monthly salaries as high as US$2,200 (RM10,485).

That tempts some in a country with a GDP per capita of little more than US$1,300.

Nepal has banned its citizens from working in Russia or Ukraine in any capacity, to try to prevent their recruitment.