One of 30 Bangladeshis Sent to Russia as Workers and Forced to Fight Was Sent Home. At Least Four of the Group Are Dead.

Rajon Hossain, one of 30 Bangladeshi workers sent to Russia in April with promises of employment and then forced to fight in Ukraine, left Moscow on 21st of August, and was scheduled to arrive at Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport on 23rd. His departure followed the completion of immigration formalities under the supervision of the Bangladesh Embassy in Moscow.

"His repatriation was confirmed after his immigration clearance was completed," said Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, first secretary for labour at the embassy. Hossain is travelling via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

He was injured while fighting and had been trying to leave the battlefield for some time. 

How the 30 Got There

The group of 30 was sent to Russia on April 24 by three Bangladeshi recruiting agencies - RS International, Jabal-E-Noor, and TS Overseas Limited - all of which held manpower clearance from Bangladesh's Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET). The workers were promised jobs. What they found instead, according to reports received by the Bangladeshi government, was that they were forced to take part in the war in Ukraine.

On June 1, authorities revoked the licences of all three agencies and confiscated their security deposits. The Bangladesh government has since acknowledged four deaths among the group.

Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Ariful Haque Choudhury told parliament on July 9 that four members of the original group had died.

One Home. Others Still Out There.

Hossain's return is the outcome of months of effort by the Bangladesh Embassy in Moscow. It is one man from a group of 30. The government has not publicly accounted for the status of the remaining members.

The three agencies that facilitated the recruitment held valid government licences at the time of sending. The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training clearance they received was the official gateway through which the workers left. That government-approved process delivered 30 people into a war zone.

A Safe Way Out

Those foreign nationals who are still trapped in Russia's army can take a safe route out with the "I Want to Live" project - here is how.

Source: Bangladesh 24