If and when there is a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, the <a href="https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/about-the-army/corps-regiments-and-units/brigade-of-gurkhas/">British Army’s Gurkha soldiers</a> deployed there could be in a theatre of war in which fellow Nepalis have been fighting for <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/06/why-nepalis-are-fighting-on-both-sides-of-the-russia-ukraine-war/">both sides</a>. Three years into the conflict, there are at least <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruiters-of-nepalis-into-russian-army-identified">1,000 Nepali mercenaries in the Russian Army</a> and a few on the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/is-the-time-ripe-for-an-end-to-the-ukraine-war">Ukrainian side</a>. About <a href="https://www.nzz.ch/english/the-russians-treat-us-like-dogs-yet-thousands-of-nepalese-soldiers-are-fighting-for-russia-in-ukraine-ld.1821866">70 of them have been killed</a>, 180 injured are being treated in hospitals in Russia, dozens have deserted, and there are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/6-nepali-kia-and-4-pows-in-ukraine">four prisoners of war</a> captured by the Ukrainians.&nbsp; Reports in the <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2024497/army-new-regiment-Gurkha-artillery">British press</a> last week quoted Defence Secretary John Healy announcing the formation of a 500-strong <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/diary-of-a-nepali-soldier-in-france">Gurkha Artillery regiment </a>to be sent to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal. European defence ministers met last week in Paris to decide on a ‘force generation’ as part of a 20-nation ‘security and stabilisation’ operation in Ukraine.&nbsp; There are currently just over 4,127 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/gadfly-opinion/the-time-has-come-for-a-gurkha-peace-corps">Nepali nationals in the British Army</a>, most of them in the infantry. <a href="https://www.eurasiantimes.com/n-new-roles-for-british-gurkha-soldier/">Media reports</a> said the new artillery unit would be deployed in surveillance and reconnaissance roles attached to anti-aircraft missile systems.&nbsp; Back in January, The Telegraph even floated the idea of establishing a Ukrainian equivalent of the <a href="https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/about-the-army/corps-regiments-and-units/brigade-of-gurkhas/" target="_blank">Brigade of Gurkhas</a>, a permanent, volunteer unit of Ukrainian nationals as part of the British Army as a symbol of the European military alliance.&nbsp; Meanwhile, fighting has intensified even as US-brokered peace talks take place in Saudi Arabia. Russia and Ukraine have been hitting cities deep into each other’s territories with missiles and long-range drones. And Russia seems to be gaining ground to retake the Kursk region.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-does-defending-europe-mean">What does ‘Defending Europe’ mean</a>? Casualties on both sides are high, and both sides are running out of manpower. Ukraine is feeling the shortage of recruits more acutely, while the Russian Army has been getting conscripts from the hinterland as well as mercenaries from Ethiopia, India and Nepal.&nbsp; Tilak Budathoki from Rolpa paid a Nepali intermediary from Dang <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruiters-of-nepalis-into-russian-army-identified">recruiting for the Russian Army </a>Rs 1million to get him a military job. He was promised Rs300,000 a month salary for a ‘support job’ in the army, and Russian citizenship.&nbsp; Budathoki had served three years in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-dying-in-someone-elses-war">the Nepal Army</a>, but he resigned after<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal"> the Maoists</a> threatened his family. With his military experience, he felt he could handle a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruitment-of-nepalis-into-indian-army-paused">military job</a>. He was flown to Moscow via New Delhi despite a Nepal government ban on mercenaries joining the Russian Army. After a few weeks training, he was sent off to the front, although the agent had said the Nepalis would be in kitchen duty or be back-up while Russian soldiers did the fighting. But the reality was different. He was sent off to the Donestsk front where the fighting was fierce. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-captured-in-ukraine">The soldiers </a>were constantly hungry and cold in the icy trenches. While the Nepalis foraged for food in nearby bunkers, they would be subject to relentless Ukrainian drone attacks.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/ukraines-lessons-for-sandwiched-nations-like-nepal">Ukraine's lessons for sandwiched nations like Nepal</a>, Bhaskar Koirala  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250316090316_2f8b1e105ca898ccbfe5d8ca7ebcee115384f8efe563a5f2d8ad8b61d6baf86e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_18" data-image-id="20250316090316_2f8b1e105ca898ccbfe5d8ca7ebcee115384f8efe563a5f2d8ad8b61d6baf86e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Tilak Budhathoki Russian Army NT"> <figcaption>Budathoki during his term as ward chair of Sunchahari Municpality-5 of Rolpa.</figcaption> </figure>  “This is nothing like I imagined, I have nothing left to lose,” Budathoki told us during a 1-hour conversation over Facebook Messenger in January. “I do not think I am getting out of this alive.” Budathoki in the trenches on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/facebook-nation">Facebook</a> messenger in January one hour conversation was despondent and didn’t think he would make it back alive because of relentless Ukrainian drone attacks, &nbsp;black smoke billowing out of the snow-covered forests. Budathoki had heard of Nepalis who had deserted and made it back to Nepal after paying the same recruiters who had brought them to Russia and after the Nepal Embassy issued them temporary <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/life-time/having-a-nepali-passport-is-no-fun">travel documents</a>. They charged $3,000. But several attempts to flee were unsuccessful. Among those who managed to escape is Krishna Kumar Shahi from Dailekh who was wounded, and is now in TU Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. He remembers: “There are corpses strewn all over like goats, and on the other side is Ukraine.” Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine"> 10 Nepalis from one town fighting in Ukraine</a>, Sujata Dhungana After reports of desertions, Russian military intelligence had increased surveillance and had a list of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/531-nepalis-in-russian-army">Nepalis in the Russian Army</a>. Those caught were immediately sent back to the front, and deployed in the places where the fighting was fiercest. Some were tortured when they returned to their units. “I am just waiting to die,” said Budhathoki, saying he missed his 12-year-old son and 6-year-old- daughter. “I came here so I could afford to send them to good schools back in Nepal. Everyone here wants to return to Nepal, they say they do not want any money just safety.” &nbsp; For Budathoki, it was hard to take the death of Sajan Gurung, who had been recruited with him in Nepal and both had travelled together to Moscow. He was killed in action along with three other Nepalis in a Ukrainian drone attack on a trench barely 400m away.&nbsp; On 25 February, Budathoki told his friends and family that he had been sent off again to the frontlines. A few days later, he was killed in action. Tilak Budathoki’s death was announced on 11 March in Parliament in Kathmandu by Rolpa’s MP Iswari Gharti of the UML party. Budathoki had been elected ward chair of Sunchahari Municpality-5 of Rolpa. He lost the next election to a Maoist candidate, and was desperate for a job to pay off the loans he took for his campaign. Since it was impossible to bring the body home, the families performed a ritual funeral in Nepal. MP Gharti told Parliament: “I request the prime minister to stop <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/graves-of-nepali-soldiers-in-russia">recruitment of Nepalis in the Russian Army</a>.”&nbsp; Many of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">the Nepalis in the Russian Army</a> have never been paid, or not paid what they had been promised. Except for two of the dead, none have got compensation and their families in Nepal are deep in debt and cannot service loans they took to pay the recruiters. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-play-russian-roulette-in-distant-war?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1z3aL7Os-pbK8b03IPm8LXZizKesORwMh_CtPa2wkQmboTUZySdvUK-MI_aem_PE4E_mtHms1ysj09K3RBwQ">Nepalis play Russian roulette in distant war</a>, Shankar Dahal

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More Nepalis in Russian Army killed in action

The war continues unabated. There is no end in sight. Can we hope that Donald Trump will find a personal connection to Vladimir Putin to end this war? The phone call on 15 November between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Putin – the first telephone contact in two years – was sobering because Putin only reaffirmed his already known positions: He is ready for negotiations, but only on his terms. In other words, recognition of the "new territorial realities" and "consideration of Russian security interests".&nbsp;
In concrete terms, this would mean the handover of the four regions in eastern Ukraine, parts of which are occupied by Russia, and Crimea. Scholz called for negotiations with the aim of a "just and lasting peace", which is primarily aimed at the withdrawal of Russian troops.
The Russian attack and Ukrainian defence have turned into a war of exhaustion, with current military advantages for Russia. The Russian strategy can be described as an escalation with the hope of a military victory.&nbsp;
So far, Ukraine and its supporters have reacted with intense resistance. Western support has escalated with the delivery of more effective weapons and belief that victory is still possible. But increasingly a certain fatigue can be felt among them and Trump has made it clear that the massive support will no longer come from the USA.
What is the consequence for the Ukraine war, and what is the alternative to this battle with more and more deaths? Negotiations now? Is there a chance for peace without military victory? But neither side is ready yet for serious negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky was not happy about Scholz's initiative and spoke of a policy of appeasement, also because the call counteracts Putin's international isolation.
The American political scientist William Zartman speaks of the necessary "ripeness" of a conflict as a prerequisite for the success of negotiations. The concept of “ripe moments” centres, according to Zartman, on the adversaries’ perceptions of “hurting stalemates”. The willingness to negotiate increases when both sides realise that a military victory is not possible and that the military potential, i.e. soldiers and weapons, is no longer sufficient.&nbsp;
The depressing conclusion is that today, even after almost 1,000 days of war, this situation does not exist in Russia or Ukraine. But the increasing logistical bottlenecks on both sides, the irreplaceable, irrecoverable and permanent losses are perhaps an indication that the conflict is in a process of maturing for negotiations. Even Russia, with its present territorial advances, seems not able to replace its casualties. The arrival of about 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia raises the question of whether the Kremlin can make up for its enormous losses.
Different scenarios
Four scenarios are conceivable, all of which are far from an ideal solution.
First, it is not inconceivable that the war, which has now lasted almost three years, with all its destruction and loss of life, will continue for another few years without an end in sight.
Second, Donald Trump could actually strike a deal with Vladimir Putin, presumably at the expense of Ukraine. Trump believes in deals. Russia would receive the parts of Ukraine it occupies, a demilitarized zone would be established along this border within Ukraine, Ukraine would receive security guarantees (from NATO, the United Nations, or a grouping of neutral states), and a peace treaty would be postponed until later. And “later” could mean decades without a peace treaty.
Third, one side could win militarily. Unlikely, but not completely out of the question. The Kremlin firmly believes in this possibility and is assured by its territorial gains in recent weeks. At the same time, the Russian leadership underestimated Ukraine's will to resist at the beginning of the full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and then had to significantly limit its war goals, the overthrow of the government in Kyiv and the integration of Ukraine into the Russian Federation.
The fourth scenario, a ceasefire and a frozen conflict. There are a number of conflicts that are in this state of having no real solution. In recent years, the situation in Korea has been referred to several times in order to consider a similar solution to the Ukraine war. This scenario is perhaps the most likely.
Ceasefire and a frozen conflict: The Korean solution
Of course, every conflict is different, and the respective conditions also differ. Nevertheless, there might be both conflict patterns and patterns of conflict resolution that could provide clues to Ukraine's future.&nbsp;
Sergey Radchenko, a historian at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in the US, pointed out parallels to the Korean War in an op-ed in the New York Times after a year of the Ukraine war. More than 70 years ago, in July 1953, an armistice agreement and the establishment of a demilitarized zone led to the freezing of this war and the division of Korea into two separate states.
Recently, Joseph S. Nye, one of the most influential political scientists in the USA, pointed to a "Korean solution" in an article entitled “What Would Victory in Ukraine Look Like?” He writes: “If Ukraine defines victory as the return of all land that Russia has occupied since 2014, victory is not in sight. But if it aims to maintain its independence as a prosperous democracy linked to Europe, while reserving its right to the ultimate return of its territory, victory remains possible.”&nbsp;
The Korean War also swayed back and forth from 1950 to 1953. Like what is happening now in Ukraine, neither the north nor the south, nor their respective supporters, were prepared to end the war quickly because of hopes of a military victory. The Korean armistice agreement of July 1953 stipulated the status quo ante with the division of the country at the 38th parallel.&nbsp;
Korea is still a divided country, and the conflict is a frozen one. A peace treaty was never concluded and the so-called demilitarised zone along the border between the two states is one of the most militarised borders in the world. A permanent ceasefire was reached without a peace agreement.
Proponents of a "Korean solution" point out that the destruction and loss of life has ended, and that South Korea has now become a resilient democracy and emerging economic power. Democratic development and integration in Western Europe could then follow in the same way in Ukraine.
Critics of such a solution describe the Korean ceasefire as a "non-solution". The Swiss historian Roland Popp, who researches at the Military Academy of the University ETH Zurich, writes that this Korean solution "also covers four decades of one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world, massacres of tens of thousands of civilians ... or the assassination of the president by the director of the South Korean CIA in 1979." And he points to the immense costs and uncertainties for Western Europe.
In 1953, a Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission was set up in Korea. In the more than seven decades of the existence of the armistice agreement there have been numerous military skirmishes on the border. North Korea's nuclear weapons program is a threat, just as the North calls the South Korean military with its ally the United States a threat.&nbsp;
Precisely for this reason, it is remarkable that this agreement has prevented a new war with heavy losses for more than seven decades. The consequences of a Korean solution for the situation in Europe would probably also mean, as in the case of the Korean peninsula, arms races as during the early days of the Cold War
Neutral states could also play an important role in ending the Ukraine war: for example, India, South Africa, Brazil or Switzerland. If neither side makes significant gains in Ukraine, a ceasefire would not be impossible. Presumably, the Ukrainians would not regain all the territories occupied by Russia. Russia could interpret the abandonment of its actual goal as a partial victory in order to save face. The conflict would be frozen. Not a nice result, but still the end of the war.&nbsp;
A frozen conflict is better than a hot war. But the history of frozen wars shows that they can turn into hot wars again at any time. In the case of Ukraine, the imposition of an unfair solution could possibly result in Ukrainian partisan resistance.
A possible fifth scenario, a peace agreement that is binding under international law, with an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, currently seems to be completely out of the question.
Herbert Wulf is a Professor of International Relations and former Director of the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC) where is presently is a Senior Fellow. He serves on the Scientific Council of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from <a href="https://toda.org/global-outlook/2024/is-the-time-ripe-for-an-end-to-the-ukraine-war.html">the original</a> with their permission.

Is the time ripe for an end to the Ukraine war?

<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruiters-of-nepalis-into-russian-army-identified" target="_blank">Khagendra Khatri</a> 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 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-flee-ukraine-as-russians-advance" target="_blank">Russia-Ukraine war,</a> 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.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111111110_ed1128a7b16537008091da8ade6f3a70b270fccd882f26498c5ce0c88e2e6fca.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024111111110_ed1128a7b16537008091da8ade6f3a70b270fccd882f26498c5ce0c88e2e6fca" data-rendition-name="original" width="720" height="584" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in the Russian Army"> <figcaption>Khagendra Khatri with other Nepali soldiers in Russia. </figcaption> </figure>  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 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit" target="_blank">conscripts going to comba</a>t. 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.&nbsp; “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.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111111114_017a0deff850c31846f48757fa1d4b5eae6a38582cc54b88139516fe85cbb8a2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024111111114_017a0deff850c31846f48757fa1d4b5eae6a38582cc54b88139516fe85cbb8a2" data-rendition-name="original" width="657" height="1170" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in the Russian Army"> </figure>  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<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruiters-of-nepalis-into-russian-army-identified" target="_blank"> </a><a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruiters-of-nepalis-into-russian-army-identified" target="_blank">Mohan Oli and Nim Bahadur Kunwar (Sushant)</a>, 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 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/from-frying-pan-into-fire-for-nepalis-in-russian-army" target="_blank">Nepalis in the Russian Army</a>. At least 44 of them have been killed in action, while six were captured and are said to be <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-captured-in-ukraine" target="_blank">prisoners of war in Ukraine.</a>

Marty Logan

19 days in Russia

When two nearby cyclones rotate around each other, merging into a larger and more dangerous storm, meteorologists call it the Fujiwhara effect.
Is something like this developing in Northeast Asia?
Recent decades have seen an increase in what analysts call ‘transnational conflicts’ – that is, conflicts with local, regional and international dimensions. Ukraine is one example, Taiwan is another. It is difficult to address these multi-level conflicts, since responses are needed at all three levels.
Read more: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/ukraines-lessons-for-sandwiched-nations-like-nepal">Ukraine's lesson for sandwiched nations like Nepal</a>, Bhaskar Koirala
Recently, transnational conflicts in different parts of the world have started to merge together. Responding to these emergent global conflict complexes will be a still more daunting challenge.
East Asia has a raft of unresolved conflicts, left over from the postwar settlement of 1945. &nbsp;The legacy of the Korean war fuels continuing tensions and fears of war. The unresolved dispute over the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-taiwan-war-us-no-allies-2024-7">status of Taiwan </a>leads to dangerous military activity around the island. The territorial and maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas involve clashing nationalisms but also broader strategic concerns over supply lines and resources.
Events in these hotspots were always calibrated against the state of relations between the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/40-years-after-the-sino-us-thaw">US and China</a>, China and Japan, Japan and North Korea. But it is only recently that they have become connected with conflicts in Europe.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 rang warning bells in policy circles in East Asia. Policy-makers feared that President Xi might be emboldened to act against Taiwan following Putin’s lead.&nbsp;
The Ukraine conflict came closer with North Korea’s decision to supply the Russian Federation with weapons, and closer still when President Putin concluded a defence pact with Kim Jong-Un in June 2024. The Russian Federation and North Korea pledged to provide mutual assistance should either be attacked. Kim Jong Un offered “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine” (CBS News, 19 June 2024).&nbsp;
Meanwhile, on the Korean peninsula, Kim Jong Un warned his people to prepare for war, and ordered the army to undertake <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/China-s-drills-appear-to-be-rehearsal-for-Taiwan-invasion-U.S.-admiral">‘actual war drills’</a>, while proposing to change the constitution to refer to ‘completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming the R.O.K. and annexing it as a part of the territory of our ​republic in case a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula.’
At the same time, the West has not yet learned the lesson that NATO expansion is dangerous, and NATO is preparing to expand its activities into the Indo-Pacific region and north east Asia. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nato-japan-south-korea-australia-new-zealand-6c3d9aa6fccc1253ca99ee140073f95c">NATO is developing links with South Korea and Japan</a> and invited them to attend its last two summits.
Staff talks between NATO and the Japanese Self Defence Force have identified areas of cooperation in responding to security challenges, cybersecurity and military planning. A NATO office was to have been opened in Tokyo, though France objected to this plan. &nbsp;
NATO sees its involvement in the area as a necessary response to the challenges to the ‘rules-based order’ coming from China, North Korea and Russia. The NATO summit of July 2023 declared that “The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values.’ The NATO Secretary General followed this up by saying that security is now globalised and security crises in one part of the world reverberate in another.
In April, before attending the NATO Summit for the first time as a South Korean leader, President Yoon condemned any ‘attempt to change the status quo by force’ in the Taiwan Strait, and promised that South Korea would cooperate with the international community to prevent such an outcome. The Japanese strategic community also believes that Japan would be drawn in, under this contingency. The Korean and Taiwan and Japan-China conflicts are thus potentially interlinked.
China and North Korea see the collaboration between NATO and Japan and Korea as a US-led effort to bring NATO into the region. In North Korea’s case, it is seen as part of a US strategy to overthrow Kim’s regime. In China’s case, NATO expansion is seen as a "grave challenge" to global peace and stability. "Despite all the chaos and conflict already inflicted, NATO is spreading its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific region with an express aim of containing China."
The US is deliberately emphasising the interconnections between the European and Indo-Pacific theatres as part of its strategy of building alliances with democratic partners. "We are also growing the connective tissue between US alliances in the Indo-Pacific and in Europe…allies in the Indo- Pacific are staunch supporters of Ukraine, while allies in Europe are helping the United States support peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," notes National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
NATO has addressed the possibility that it might become involved in conflict in the Taiwan Strait, specifically in the situation where US territory and forces came under attack, which would trigger Article 5.
China also objects to the participation of NATO members’ naval units in Freedom of Navigation operations in the Taiwan Straits.
How can the risks of transnational conflicts coming together into global conflict complexes be defused? Second-track dialogue meetings can convene interlocutors from different arenas and bring them together to discuss all aspects of a situation.&nbsp;
But though dialogue efforts are vital, they cannot bear the weight of conflict prevention alone. Restraint, trust-building and moderation on the part of political leaders is also needed. So is a climate of domestic political discussion that replaces security fears and nationalism with mutual understanding and an appreciation of our common humanity.
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from <a href="https://toda.org/global-outlook/2024/turbulent-currents-merging-storms-northeast-asia-outlook-june-july-2024.html">the original</a> with their permission.
Hugh Miall is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Kent, and Chair of the Conflict Research Society, the main professional association for peace and conflict researchers in the UK. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Toda Peace Institute.

Turbulent Currents, Merging Storms

Mohan Oli and his brother Raj have been identified as two of the recruiters who have been luring fellow Nepalis to be conscripted into the Russian Army by promising them huge salaries and citizenship in exchange for exorbitant fees. This investigation has identified some of the human traffickers with information from Nepalis who deserted the Russian military from the Ukrainian war zone to return to Kathmandu. One of the ex-soldiers who returned is Khagendra Khatri from Rolpa who was recruited by Mohan Oli and his accomplice Nim Bahadur Kunwar (alias Sushant) just after he had graduated in agriculture from a college in Dang. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-dying-in-someone-elses-war">Nepalis dying in someone else's war</a>, Sagar Budathoki Unable to find a job to pay back loans his father had taken for his education, he had begun language classes to migrate for work in Korea. Khagendra’s neighbours in Dang were two men from Salyan: Sushant and Mohan Oli. They, along with their companion Ganesh Neupane, convinced Khagendra that ensuring selection for Korean was not worth the hassle and money. They told him joining the Russian Army was a much better option with a monthly salary of Rs300,000 and Russian citizenship after a year. Sushant and Mohan had sent another Nepali, Abhishek Buda of Rolpa, to the Russian Army previously and got him to also persuade Khagendra. Abhishek, who had not yet been sent to the battlefront at the time, enthusiastically obliged, encouraging Khagendra to join as well.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211070_70b1bc2f49182e7331af915628d46538a1764272014843e946b489b3fc5b4338.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024070211070_70b1bc2f49182e7331af915628d46538a1764272014843e946b489b3fc5b4338" data-rendition-name="original" width="1100" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>A receipt of money deposited in the account of Nim Bahadur Kunwar and Ganesh Neupane.</figcaption> </figure>  The recruiters also convinced Khagendra’s relative Dal Bahadur Oli of Rolpa to go to Russia with him. The two paid Mohan Oli Rs300,000 each in cash and deposited another Rs400,000 each in Sushant’s bank account. Their visas arrived surprisingly rapidly within ten days of the transaction, indicating some collusion of the recruiters with the Russian authorities. On 15 October last year, Khagendra and Dal Bahadur met five other recruits also flying to Russia. By the time they reached Dubai to board a flight to Moscow, the number of Nepalis had swelled to 52. Blissfully unaware of the intensity of the war, the Nepalis were in high spirits during the flight.&nbsp; In Moscow, a Russian agent took all the Nepalis to a military recruitment centre. But Khagendra was held back for two more days, as the agent wanted him to pay an additional Rs50,000. Once he did, he joined the rest at the recruitment centre, where there were another 150 Nepali conscripts. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-play-russian-roulette-in-distant-war">Nepalis play Russian roulette in a distant war</a>, Shankar Dhakal Khagendra was to join the ‘Group Seven Battalion’ and had to sign a contract written in Russian. He used Google Translate and found out that the recruits would not be paid Rs10 million in case of death or injury as he had been promised back in Nepal.&nbsp; Khagendra and his group were then taken to a training centre which was a day away by bus. But instead of receiving training for six months they were sent after two weeks of weapons and drone training to the trenches on the Ukrainian front. Khagendra had joined a WhatsApp chatroom of the Group Seven Battalion, and started seeing gruesome videos of Nepalis killed and wounded in battle.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211074_9ef81d64e7904e454ec78905cef5172460a3f4bde4d24e06cdcc6240e13b708b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024070211074_9ef81d64e7904e454ec78905cef5172460a3f4bde4d24e06cdcc6240e13b708b" data-rendition-name="original" width="4789" height="3199" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Khagendra Khatri from Rolpa bribed his Russian commander and walked through the forest under the cover of the night to get to Moscow before returning back home.</figcaption> </figure>  Khagendra bribed his commander with 17,000 rubles (Rs26,000) to let him go back to Nepal to attend to a sick relative, and snuck out of the barracks on 29 October with his relative Dal Bahadur. They walked through the forest under the cover of the night and eventually got a cab driver to take them to Moscow, 14 hours away. To his surprise, the cabbie did not want to be paid. In any case, Khagendra had run out of money by that time, but got in touch with folks back home to book him a flight back to Nepal. On 2 November, just two weeks after leaving Kathmandu he was back. He tracked down his recruiter Sushant (Nim Bahadur Kunwar) in Nepalganj pretending to send more of his friends to Russia.&nbsp; Khagendra demanded his money back, but the cheque Nim Bahadur wrote him bounced. The recruiter then fled and could not be contacted. He filed a human trafficking and banking offence complaint at the Nepal Police Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau. But he has not heard from them. Khagendra is heavily indebted, and wants his Rs700,000 back so he can try going to another country. Khagendra’s relative Dal Bahadur, has gone to India to find work. Meanwhile, the family of Tara Gharti of Salyan, one of the five Nepalis Khagendra and Dal Bahadur met at Kathmandu airport the day they flew to Dubai, were informed that he had been killed in action on the frontlines in Ukraine.&nbsp; Abhishek Buda, who initially encouraged Khagendra to join the Russian Army has also been killed.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cgtppi0a8c4?si=Zs9TQoQD-ckCYYa1" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> Statements from a dozen other Nepalis who deserted and returned from Russia reveal an international network of human traffickers who extort thousands of Nepalis and other nationals to send unemployed youth to join the Russian Army. All of the Nepali recruits said they paid traffickers between Rs700,000 to Rs1 million to go to Russia. From their testimonies, it is clear the Russians use the Nepalis as human shields and they only have a 5% chance of survival. Because there is no bilateral military agreement between Nepal and Russia, the wounded are not entitled for compensation, and the families of those killed are unable to arrange for the bodies to be brought home. Some 100 Nepalis have managed to desert like Khagendra Khatri, and again paid traffickers to bring them back home. Hundreds of others are out of touch with their families.&nbsp; One of them is Ram Kumar Pradhan of Makwanpur, who had previously been in the Nepal Army. After leaving, he could not find another job and when the 2015 earthquake destroyed his house he borrowed Rs800,000 to pay a trafficker to take him to Russia, little knowing what he was getting into. Ram Kumar’s brother Babu Kaji says that the two had talked on WhatsApp two days before he was sent to the frontlines in Ukraine. He had also sent a picture of himself in Russian military combat gear. “They are sending me to war on 16 October,” Ram Kumar had told his brother. “I have no idea what is going to happen. I will call you once I return.” He never called. Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department told Babu Kaji recently that he had been killed in Ukraine.&nbsp; “He trusted the traffickers to get him a high-paying job in Russia because he needed the money,” says Babu Kaji. “Now the government tells us he has been killed, but they have not provided us any evidence of his death.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211078_504bbd8d21a15435c90bd9ac927b6f892c10648483543d600178497fea022214.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024070211078_504bbd8d21a15435c90bd9ac927b6f892c10648483543d600178497fea022214" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1170" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Babu Kaji Pradhan, brother of Ram Kumar who joined the Russian Army and has since been killed.</figcaption> </figure>  D B Gurung of Kathmandu had flown out together with Ram Kumar to join the Russian Army but was returned home by Qatar immigration. He tried again but was turned back this time by Russian immigration. But his family has not heard from him.&nbsp; Before he disappeared, Gurung told relatives he and Ram Kumar had been sent to Russia by a recruiter named Nabaraj KC and a manpower agency operator called Suraj Thapa. He had also paid them Rs800,000. Their air tickets were arranged by a travel agency called New Nepal Education World. Both Navaraj K C and Suraj Thapa have fled to India. Ram Kumar’s brother Babu Kaji contacted Navaraj KC on WhatsApp, but he told him he was only responsible for the ticket to Mosow. He then went to the recruitment agency pretending to be a client who wanted to go to Russia but Suraj Thapa was not there. “After that one conversation, he disappeared from WhatsApp,” says Babu Kaji.&nbsp; Tirtha Raj Pandey was also a Nepal Army veteran, and had been a bodyguard for former Education Minister Devendra Paudel before retiring. He had been living in Surkhet, and had come to Kathmandu last May after hearing word about a job opening up in the Dubai Royal Guard. Tirtha Raj was approached by a man named Kuber Karki from Dhading at Burger House in Gongabu. Kuber told him joining the Russian Army paid more than Dubai Royal Guard and promised a salary of Rs300,000 and eventual Russian citizenship.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070211078_e8b44b9eeb1e90faeebe218d940c2744d412d2cba55a7b63fe34123337b16c88.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024070211078_e8b44b9eeb1e90faeebe218d940c2744d412d2cba55a7b63fe34123337b16c88" data-rendition-name="original" width="897" height="618" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Tirtha Raj Pandey refused to sign the contract and was let go by the Russian Army, fearing he would convince other recruits to similarly decline. </figcaption> </figure>  Desperate, Tirtha Raj borrowed Rs650,000 to pay Kuber’s accomplice: the same Raj Oli, the brother of Mohan Oli who recruited Khagendra Khatri. He flew from Kathmandu via Dubai on 30 September last year, and there at Moscow airport to pick him up was a Russian agent who identified himself as Alex. When he reached the military training facility on 3 October, Tirtha Raj was handed a 22-page contract in Russian, which when he translated had none of the terms Raj Oli in Nepal had mentioned. There were also Indian agents at the Moscow training centre, and when they saw Tirtha Raj hesitate, they warned him in Hindi that he will face a 15 year jail sentence if he refused to sign. “I told them I would rather go to jail than sign the agreement,” Tirtha Raj recalls telling the Indians. “Maybe they were worried I would convince the other recruits, so they let me go.” Tirtha Raj paid another Rs400,000 to a trafficker to get him back to Nepal. In Kathmandu, he confronted Raj Oli who promised to return him some of the fee but disappeared soon after. So far, 49 Nepalis in the Russian Army have been confirmed killed in action in Ukraine, and 41 others are probably also dead as per information from fellow-Nepali soldiers, but there is no official verification yet.&nbsp; The Campaign to Save the Lives of Nepali Citizens has so far collected details of 991 Nepali mercenaries in the Russian Army. Of these, 127 injured in action are being treated in hospitals in Russia while 272 have been out of contact with their families for the past eight months. The Nepal Embassy has made travel documents for 110 Nepalis who escaped the war zone so they could return.&nbsp; Returnees paint a gruesome picture of life in the trenches under constant attack from Ukrainian drones and artillery. But the Nepalis were also constantly beaten by Russian soldiers, many of whom are prisoners convicted of murder, rape, or armed robbery. The convicts have their sentences waived, and if they survive can return home as war heroes. The recruitment of Nepali citizens into a foreign military other than the Indian and British Armies, or for security duty in Singapore, Oman and Brunei is illegal. India has actually stopped recruitment of Nepali nationals into its army. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine two and a half years ago, President Vladimir Putin opened the way for foreign nationals to join the Russian Army and announced an attractive salary, Russian citizenship, passport and residential facilities, among others. This lured many Nepalis, including those studying in Russia and some already working as security guards in Dubai or Doha. During training, Russian officers encouraged them to post videos on TikTok of them in smart uniforms, posing with assault rifles, smiling and having a great time. From testimonies of returnees, it is clear the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">TikTok videos were more effective in convincing them to join the Russian Army</a>. “After leaving the Nepal Army, my husband was working as a cook in Dubai. There, he came in contact with a recruiter and he ended up in Russia,” says Deepa Singh Shahi, wife of Nabin Shahi of Jajarkot, one of the Nepalis killed in Ukraine.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240702110712_d81b6cda5b9a69254c41b15406cb350b3eaec093b0f0e372e7c241d6d405298c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20240702110712_d81b6cda5b9a69254c41b15406cb350b3eaec093b0f0e372e7c241d6d405298c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="893" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Deepa Singh Shahi, wife of Nabin Shahi of Jajarkot was working as a cook in Dubai before he joined the Russian Army.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240702110716_ea9ee867130c728b47ae7ab25a2c8aa0288ee8b33d4d43cb24c8aa67a3479ccc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240702110716_ea9ee867130c728b47ae7ab25a2c8aa0288ee8b33d4d43cb24c8aa67a3479ccc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified"> <figcaption>Nabin Shahi was killed in the Ukranian front. Also pictured, his Russian military ID.</figcaption> </figure>  Krishna Bahadur of Dailekh has shrapnel wounds all over his body. Surgeons removed four bullets from his left arm and two from his right thigh. He escaped the Russian Army at a huge cost, economically, physically and mentally. “I paid Rs800,000 for the jobs and another 1.1 million to come back home,” says Krishna Bahadur, a former Nepal Army soldier. He was attracted to the job in Russia after watching videos of neighbours from his village who posted them on TikTok from their training centre. Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha spoke in March with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov asking him to stop the recruitment of Nepali mercenaries, to send those already there back, and to compensate the dead and wounded and also send bodies home. Foreign Ministry’s Amrit Bahadur Rai says Lavros raised the issue of modalities for implementation. “But there has been no progress since then,” he admitted. The government has not apprehended the human traffickers involved even though they have been identified. “Several recruiters have escaped and fled abroad, the authorities are not even interested in prosecuting those who are here,” says<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/531-nepalis-in-russian-army"> Kritu Bhandari of the Campaign to Save the Lives of Nepali Citizens</a>. Bhandari collected the names of 61 traffickers involved in recruiting Nepalis into the Russian Army and submitted them with evidence to Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane on 5 April. The police did arrest 22 labour recruiters, travel agents and some ex-servicemen. Some were told to refund the money, but most have been released. Twelve recruiters, including the owner of an educational consultancy, were arrested in December on charges of trafficking. Among them were Hari BK, a Nepali Army retiree, and two others, Sujata Dahal and Ishwar Adhikari. A case was filed against four of them in the Kathmandu District Court but they were acquitted for lack of evidence. Bhandari believes they had political connections.&nbsp; Superintendent of Police Gautam Mishra, Director of the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police, says his agency is actively pursuing traffickers.&nbsp; He claimed: “We are on their tail, and will see results in a few days.”&nbsp; <a href="https://cijnepal.org.np/" target="_blank">Center for Investigative Journalism - Nepal&nbsp;</a>

Recruiters of Nepalis into Russian Army identified

Nepalis dying in someone else's war

Nepalis play Russian roulette in distant war

&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024031910034_3e6b3ba8e5d3fe0838da763c4497d2d8db91351886511d57ac41889ed6432071.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024031910034_3e6b3ba8e5d3fe0838da763c4497d2d8db91351886511d57ac41889ed6432071" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="533" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russia-Ukraine war"> <figcaption>Home of Raghu Nath Adhikari in Kapurthan in Jhapa. Inset: Ganga Ram Adhikari who was fighting in the Russian Army. Photo: SUJATA DHUNGANA</figcaption> </figure>  As the afternoon sun blazed down one afternoon last week, neighbours gathered at the house of Raghu Nath Adhikari in Kapurthan village of Jhapa district in Nepal’s southeastern plains. &nbsp; Raghu Nath got off his bicycle, and joined the crowd at his house. Breathing heavily, he told his neighbours, “The astrologer said that nothing has happened and that we will receive news by next Saturday, but the person himself will not come back to us.”&nbsp; The well-wishers were crestfallen, not knowing what words they could offer the elderly man. Adhikari then quietly entered his house. The day before, Nepal’s Foreign Ministry had published the names of seven more <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis who had died fighting in the Russian Army</a> on the Ukraine front. The fourth name on the list was: Ganga Ram Adhikari, Jhapa (pictured, below).&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024031910030_ad5b583fc9f6990cc1a40d2c152c4a34134aa1ca51418ff5214592a4b8257407.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024031910030_ad5b583fc9f6990cc1a40d2c152c4a34134aa1ca51418ff5214592a4b8257407" data-rendition-name="original" width="623" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russia-Ukraine war"> </figure>  The name of Raghu Nath Adhikari’s son in family circles is Gopal so family and neighbours of 33-year-old Ganga Ram are still hopeful that it is mistaken identity and he is still alive. Which is why his father went to see the astrologer with his son’s horoscope. &nbsp; This was not the first time the family has visited the astrologer. Ever since Ganga Ram left for Russia in October last year, they have taken his horoscope to the fortune teller and his answer had always been the same: “Don’t worry, nothing has happened to your son.” Villagers had received word from fellow <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">Nepalis in Russia</a> on 26 January that Ganga Ram had been killed in action. But while Ganga Ram’s wife Anuradha and mother Manmaya had collapsed in tears, Raghu Nath refused to believe the news, because two days earlier he had heard that his son had been injured. &nbsp; Anuradha has been listless since the news, and well-wishers come by regularly to offer solace.&nbsp; Anuradha and Ganga Ram were high school sweethearts and had got married in Grade 9. Anuradha dropped out after she got pregnant, but Ganga Ram completed his school and went to Qatar as a migrant worker which was where he was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/from-frying-pan-into-fire-for-nepalis-in-russian-army">recruited by middlemen for the Russian Army</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024031910030_703c3b7eb0fd10ce7b78fa9fbd320c69390814b0e0b3aa5726ed0df3b21a9249.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024031910030_703c3b7eb0fd10ce7b78fa9fbd320c69390814b0e0b3aa5726ed0df3b21a9249" data-rendition-name="original" width="2783" height="1791" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russia-Ukraine war"> <figcaption>Ganga Ram's wife, Anuradha. </figcaption> </figure>  Ganga Ram and Anuradha had spoken on the phone daily since he reached Russia, much like they did in the ten years he was in Qatar. But that stopped two months ago. “I don’t remember him ever missing our daily check-ins,” says Anuradha now, eyes red-rimmed from crying constantly. “What kind of news is this from the government? How can I believe that he is dead?” Ganga Ram formally joined <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/graves-of-nepali-soldiers-in-russia">the Russian Army</a> in November and underwent combat training for the next two months. He spoke on the phone with his wife and family after completing training on 18 January, telling them that he would be in the battlefront and may not be in touch for months. "Don’t worry about me,” &nbsp;he told them, "I will call you when I get back."  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024031910030_fc213406d77353d3c6498d5004a8019cbac00c8af7e1a4e24d1997ca81c03a81.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2024031910030_fc213406d77353d3c6498d5004a8019cbac00c8af7e1a4e24d1997ca81c03a81" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="677" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russia-Ukraine war"> <figcaption>Ganga Ram (far left) joined the Russian Army in November 2023.</figcaption> </figure>  Sleep was hard to come by for Ganga Ram’s family that night, and they prayed to the gods for his safety. Anuradha has not let her cell phone out of her sight after that last conversation with him, hoping that her husband will call once again.&nbsp; She tells neighbours, “I have heard that Ganga Ram is wounded in his arms and legs and is in hospital. But even so, he should remember me.” Family and neighbours have begun to come to terms with the fact that the Ganga Ram Adhikari on the government’s list and their Gopal are one and the same. Raghu Nath is still trying to gather evidence about whether or not it is his son’s name on the list.&nbsp; “Maybe the old man had been trying to be strong and convince himself that his son was fine all this time,” says Raghu Nath’s neighbour Tika Maya Tawa. “The radio is always on at my house, but I have turned it off now because I cannot bear to hear news.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024031910030_13c56be6fcd84149d6ab4d2b9cb55589c39a8d2e5774fdbe209c54f71c1d84e0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2024031910030_13c56be6fcd84149d6ab4d2b9cb55589c39a8d2e5774fdbe209c54f71c1d84e0" data-rendition-name="original" width="720" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russia-Ukraine war"> </figure>  Ganga Ram’s relatives know that his remains cannot be brought back, as has been the case with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">other Nepalis who died fighting for the Russians</a>. They are hoping that the government officially releases his photo or the names of his parents, so that they can begin to perform his last rites.&nbsp; “We have no hopes of the government bringing back his body, we just want confirmation that Gopal is the Ganga Ram Adhikari mentioned in the list,” says a neighbour. Raghu Nath has not been to the astrologer again since last week. Heartbroken, he seems finally to have accepted that his son is not coming home.

Kin of Nepalis in Russian Army seek astrologers

Families of Nepali who <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">enlisted in the Russian Army</a> after being promised huge salaries and citizenship now want to come home and their families are campaigning in Kathmandu to pressure both governments.&nbsp; Kritu Bhandari, who is leading the campaign, said she had counted at least 531 Nepalis in the Russian Army based on information given by family members. All are on the Ukraine front. More than 1,000 relatives have contacted the campaign to appeal for their return.&nbsp; “We have been reaching out to the families of the Nepalis who joined the Russian Army to get more details,” said Bhandari, adding that the campaign is lobbying the Nepali and Russian government to facilitate their return.&nbsp; Families of 127 of the Nepali soldiers on the Ukraine front have appealed for their return, and family members of 116 of those injured during combat have provided details of their state. However, says Bhandari, 272 Nepalis in the Russian military are out of touch.&nbsp; So far, 16 Nepali soldiers <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">have died in combat</a>, including Raj Kumar Roka of Dolakha, Bharat Bahadur Shah of Kailali, Devan Rai of Kaski, Ganga Raj Moktan of Ilam, Rupak Karki of Kapilvastu, Sandip Thapaliya of Gorkha, Kundan Singh Nagal of Darchula, Sanjay KC of Banke, Sundar Moktan of Rasuwa, Jit Bahadur Pun of Dang, Pritam Karki and Hari Prasad Aryal of Syangja, Raj Kumar Giri and Purna Bahadur Gurung of Dhading, as well as Sajan Gurung and Santosh Gurung of Lamjung.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024022512020_d994b8782b0e2c518d9779f5723418475090bac8f938188868c08c42e4bbb75b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024022512020_d994b8782b0e2c518d9779f5723418475090bac8f938188868c08c42e4bbb75b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="531 Nepalis in Russia NT"> </figure>  The campaign has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal demanding he take diplomatic initiatives for the return of the remains of those killed, treatment of those injured in combat, as well as the rescue and repatriation of Nepalis who <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/from-frying-pan-into-fire-for-nepalis-in-russian-army">remain in the military</a>. They have also asked for compensation to the families of the dead and injured. Family members of the men killed also lit lamps at Bhasmeswor Ghat in Pashupati on Saturday evening to pray for the return of their loved ones. Nepali soldiers who have deserted the Russian military and come back to Nepal have spoken of poor treatment, lack of proper combat training, and not being paid the salary promised by recruiters in Nepal and the Gulf.&nbsp; They say that the number of Nepalis in active combat zones is much higher than the Nepal government’s estimates. This paper previously reported on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">10 young men from the same neighbourhood </a>of a town in Nepal who ended up in the Russian military who said there were 200 Nepalis in just one training camp.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240225110256_f3bed4c84b1604950633804e946dbc3da36577b63ea3d14c1ab23fca7cdaa95c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240225110256_f3bed4c84b1604950633804e946dbc3da36577b63ea3d14c1ab23fca7cdaa95c" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="511" loading="lazy" alt="531 Nepalis in Russia NT"> <figcaption>Family members of the men killed fighting for the Russian Army lit lamps at Bhasmeswor Ghat in Pashupati on Saturday.</figcaption> </figure>  Meanwhile, four Nepali soldiers in the Russian Army are known to have been c<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/6-nepali-kia-and-4-pows-in-ukraine">aptured and detained by Ukrainian forces</a>: Bibek Khatri from Bardia, Siddharth Dhakal from Kavre, Bikas Rai from Letang, and Pratik Magar from Rolpa. A few Nepalis are also fighting on the other side in the Ukrainian Army.&nbsp; The Nepal government has tried to control nationals going to Russia, and arrested recruiters said to be involved in supplying soldiers to the Russian Army. Recruiters are said to have lured young Nepalis to Russia with promises of six months of training during which they are paid Rs500,000 a month, as well as eventual Russian citizenship. More than anything else, Nepali recruitment in the Russian Army demonstrates the desperation of the youth in Nepal and the lengths they are willing to go to get well-paying jobs.&nbsp; Last week, the Indian government also officially asked Russia to facilitate the return of its nationals who are also fighting in Ukraine. India has called its nationals being involved in ‘army support jobs’, but most reports say they are seeing action on the Ukraine front. There are said to be hundreds of Indians in the Russian Army, and at least one has been reported killed in action.

531 Nepalis in Russian Army

Several of the seven Nepalis who joined the Russian Army and were killed in the Ukraine war were retired from the Nepal police and military, or were former Maoist guerrillas. &nbsp;
On Wednesday, Nepal’s foreign ministry announced the death of the seventh known <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed" target="_blank">Nepali killed in action on the Ukraine front.</a> He is Kundan Nagal from one of Nepal’s remotest districts, Darchula.
Five years ago he had retired from Nepal’s Armed Police Force (APF), a group that was formed in 2000 before the Nepal Army got involved in the insurgency to fight the Maoist rebels.
The Foreign Ministry did not reveal any details about Nagal, but Nepali Times has learnt that he had been in the APF for 14 years &nbsp;after the ceasefire. The APF mainly guards infrastructure and border areas of Nepal.
Nagal is said to have decided to quit the APF and also leave Nepal because he was worried about not being able to support his family with the salary he got in Nepal. He first migrated to Dubai and worked in the police for three years.
During the Covid pandemic, he left that job and returned to Nepal and moved his family to Mahendranagar in the plains of western Nepal. His wife and two children live there.
Nagal’s former colleagues in the APF remember him as an able trainer, who was lured by traffickers in Dubai in November to join the Russian Army and promised a big salary.
Because of his police background and familiarity with firearms he was immediately deployed on the Ukraine front, and had called his family on 7 November to say he had been sent to ‘Red Zone’ and would not have reliable mobile connections.&nbsp;
“He had no illusions that it was dangerous where he was going,” recalls Kundan’s brother Rabindra. “He told me he did not know whether he would come out of it alive.”
But the very next day on 8 November, a Nepali fellow-soldier somehow got word to Nepal that Kundan had been injured. But he had been out of contact since then, until the Foreign Ministry announced he had died on 20 December.
Meanwhile, Kundan’s wife Pratikshya was still waiting to hear that his injuries were being treated. Out of the blue, she found out through the media the Foreign Ministry’s press statement that her husband was dead.&nbsp;
The only other information the ministry divulged was his passport number, and it was on that basis that the family was sure it was him. Rabindra is convinced that his brother’s body is not going to come back.
Pratikshya is in shock and in no condition to speak to anyone. Her husband had been sending money regularly from Dubai, and the family’s new house is nearing completion. Kundan had not been able to send any more from Russia after he got there last month.
“The real worry is the children and how they will be raised,” says Bikram Kunwar, Pratikshya’s brother.&nbsp;
Two other ex-APF security guards in Dubai had also gone to Russia with Kundan. The two are also on the frontlines, and have told their families that they left Nepal because of low pay in the police force.
Another Nepali in the Russian Army, Bharat Shah, was killed on 20 November in Avdiivka but the family got the news from fellow Nepalis last week. Shah had also been wounded on the frontlines, and died because of delayed treatment.
Shah’s family carried out a ritual funeral for him on the banks of the Karnali last week. He had a wife, a son, and an infant daughter. The Russian Army has denied there are foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine.
There are said to be at least 700 Nepalis in the Russian Army who have been attracted by the promise of a much higher salary and Russian citizenship.
Among those killed are: Kundan Nagal and Bharat Shah, Pritam Karki of Syangja, Raj Kumar Roka of Dolakha, Sandip Thapaliya, Rupak Karki of Kapilvastu and Ganga Raj Moktan of Ilam.
Four Nepalis in the Russian Army have been captured by the Ukrainians, and Nepal is working with the ICRC to bring them home. Pratik Pun of Dang, Siddharth Dhakal of Kavre, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-captured-in-ukraine" target="_blank">Bibek Khatri of Bardia</a> were all captured in Ukraine in the past three months.
The Nepal government announced that Nepalis going to Russia on tourist visas now need no objection certificates from the Consular Department. About 10 agents who were involved in sending the Nepalis to the Russian Army were arrested last week. But the traffickers simply moved to Dubai and are recruiting Nepalis there.&nbsp;
Among them was Ram Chandra Khadka from Rukum who saw action as a Maoist guerrilla in the battle of Khara in 2002. Khadka, 36, was approached by traffickers in October and sent to Bakhmut where he was injured, and is now being treated in a Moscow Hospital.&nbsp;
Several Nepalis have paid the same traffickers who took them to Russia to bring them back after deserting the Russian Army. &nbsp;They have spoken of poor treatment, not being paid the promised salary and dangerous conditions. They said the Russians were now trying to prevent desertions.

From frying pan into fire for Nepalis in Russian Army

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;

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