Indian YouTuber Warns 21M Subscribers Against Russian Army Recruitment

Rajesh Kumar, the Indian YouTuber behind the channel FactTechz - one of India's biggest, with more than 21 million subscribers - used a recent video to warn his audience against agents who lure young Indian men to Russia with promises of easy money and a "fun" life abroad. The video is available on Youtube: 

"Actually, a Soldier's Salary Isn't That Much"

Kumar's warning, delivered in Hindi, walks through how the pitch works and what actually happens to the men who take it:

Bro, are you guys not getting jobs in the Indian Army that you have to go die in Russia? Just on September 8, this Russian spokesperson said they're making a list of people who are Indian but also working in the Russian army, and that they'll all be sent back to India one by one. A lot of agency recruiters come and tell our young guys, "Bro, go to Russia, it's an amazing, fun country - just do soldier work there, you'll get lakhs a month." And when they actually go, there are no lakhs - bro, soldiers' salary isn't really that much - but out of greed, Indians still go to Russia. India's Foreign Secretary released this list on August 31. So far 51 have died there, because the Russia-Ukraine war is still going full force.

A Kremlin Promise, Repeated

The spokesperson Kumar refers to is Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's press secretary, who said on September 8 that Russia is "making a list" of Indian nationals serving in its armed forces and that they would be sent home "as soon as they are determined," according to reporting on the statement. It's a promise Moscow has made before - Russian President Vladimir Putin gave India a similar commitment during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's July 2024 visit - and the issue was expected to come up again when Putin traveled to India on September 11.

227 Recruited, 51 Dead

The figures Kumar cites trace back to Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who told a Ministry of External Affairs briefing around August 31 that 227 Indian nationals had been recruited into the Russian army, that 139 of them had since been discharged, and that "unfortunately, of course, we have information also about 51 people who have perished so far." Misri said the Indian embassy in Moscow continues to press Russia on the remaining cases.

Get Out Safely

Indians who were lured into Russia's armed forces have an option to safely escape the battlefield with Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project. See our FAQ on how to safely surrender to Ukrainian forces.