19 days in Russia

Khagendra Khatri had his sights set on working in South Korea. He had even relocated from Rolpa district to Dang so he could take classes to prepare for the mandatory Korean language exam.

One day a man approached him in Tulsipur and asked if he was interested in going to work in Russia. He said he was not, but the man persisted. Six weeks later Khatri changed his plans, and on 15 October 2023 took off for Moscow via Dubai from Kathmandu together with 52 Nepali job-seekers.

He had heard about the Russia-Ukraine war, but the recruiter had promised him a job as a cook behind the front lines. The salary would be equivalent to Rs500,000 monthly and after one year he would get Russian permanent residency. Khatri was even told he would be eligible for a US visa after that.

The Nepalis in the group spent a couple days in Moscow filling out papers. Then they were put in a bus and driven to a camp in the forest where there was a week of training, including how to use a rifle. 

At that point Khatri still thought he would be cooking for the fighters.

“It was only after we were taken to a second training camp, where I saw my name suddenly pop up on a list of conscripts going to combat. And that is when it hit me that I was going to war,” Khatri recalled in an interview in Kathmandu.

“After I saw my name, I started talking to an important looking soldier, using Google Translate,” he continued. “I tried persuading him to take me out. He was not listening to me at the beginning, but I kept talking to him for a day and a half and he finally agreed to take seven of us Nepalis if we each paid him 17,000 rubles ($174).

The man dropped the Nepalis off in his own vehicle some 5 km out of camp at midnight. From there they started walking through the forest in the bitterly cold Russian winter. 

“We did not fear that somebody would come and capture us,” says Khatri. “We were more afraid of encountering wild animals — what would we do? It was also snowing, so we worried that maybe we would just perish in the cold.”

The group walked for 16 hours straight, until a vehicle approached on a road, and stopped. After the men explained what had happened and where they were from, the driver agreed to drive them the seven hours to Moscow.

Learning their visas had expired, the helpful driver took them to a hostel where he knew they would be safe. He even refused to take any money for driving them all the way and helping them.

Safe in the hostel, the men contacted friends and family back in Nepal who sent them airline tickets. A day later they were already at Moscow airport, boarding their flight home.

Today, almost exactly one year later, Khatri says the experience sometimes seems unreal: “It actually feels like a story, and maybe people don’t believe it. But when I was actually there, I was really afraid. One thought in the back of my mind was … oh this is it I’m going to die here,” he says.

Khatri has started a farm in Rolpa with his family. But he is doubtful that he will make enough money to pay off the Rs1 million he owes money lenders. He is now looking for a new, safer opportunity abroad.

Asked if he’s worried about being tricked again he replies, ‘Yes, I’m afraid of that. And I think it is normal to think that way. But then again I feel like if I only choose countries that have agreements with the Nepal government, maybe I will not be tricked again.”

Khatri says he can’t think of any of his peers who have done well for themselves without migrating abroad. He adds, “Most of my friends, even those who have attempted to do something in Nepal, have failed and had to finally go abroad. I do not think I have seen any of my friends actually succeed in Nepal.”

Khatri along with other Nepalis was recruited by men named Mohan Oli and Nim Bahadur Kunwar (Sushant), according to a report by the Centre for Investigative Journalism Nepal. The police has a list of 61 traffickers involved in recruiting Nepalis into the Russian Army, and arrested 22 of them. Some refunded the fees, and most have been set free.

There are estimated to be a few thousand Nepalis in the Russian Army. At least 44 of them have been killed in action, while six were captured and are said to be prisoners of war in Ukraine.