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.

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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

The number of Nepalis in the Russian Army appears to be much higher than the 200 that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal estimated last week, even as news came of the sixth known <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">Nepali killed in action on the Ukraine front.</a> Bharat Shah (pictured above), 36, was killed on 20 November in the strategic town of Avdiivka but the family received the news only on 15 December. A fellow Nepali conscript in the Russian Army informed the family that Shah had been wounded but died when he did not receive emergency treatment in time.&nbsp; Shah was working as a ‘royal guard’ in Dubai, but had been attracted by the promise of a much higher salary and promise of Russian citizenship. He was flown to Moscow only three months ago along with other Nepali recruits. "I had told him time and time again not to go to Russia to become a soldier because we had heard bad things,” Shah’s younger brother Mahendra told Nepali Times. “We had always feared the worst.” After hearing about Bharat Shah’s death, his family in Kailali district performed a cremation ritual on the banks of the Karnali River on Saturday without his body. Shah leaves behind a wife, a son, and a two-month-old daughter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231217161248_e6ce541d81bdc910660211707e3384d3eb17f2f01030ddc37fd2c0c208cc0cbc.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20231217161248_e6ce541d81bdc910660211707e3384d3eb17f2f01030ddc37fd2c0c208cc0cbc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1938" height="1226" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Ukraine"> <figcaption>Bharat Shah joined the Russian Army and was killed in Ukraine in November.</figcaption> </figure>  However, like the other Nepalis killed in action, there has been no information from the Russian military about Shah. Indeed, Russia has not officially acknowledged that there are foreign mercenaries in its army fighting in Ukraine. Another young man from Kanchanpur who is also in the Russian Army in the ‘Red Zone’ on the Ukraine front broke military regulations to send a mobile text message to his family that fighting was fierce, it was really cold, and that there was little chance of him making it out alive.&nbsp; He also said that there were 200 Nepalis just in one camp where he had been trained, and believed that there were many more. Soldiers on the frontlines are not allowed to use mobile phones for fear of being tracked by the Ukrainians. A few Nepalis are also fighting on the other side in the Ukrainian Army.&nbsp; Four Nepali prisoners of war are also in detention by the Ukrainians, and Foreign Minister N P Saud said on Friday that he is using diplomatic channels to bring them home. Among them are Pratik Pun from Dang, Siddharth Dhakal of Kavre, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-captured-in-ukraine">Bibek Khatri of Bardia</a> – all captured from Bakhmut and Zaporizhia sectors in the past three months.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023120601124_b55402221065995b1711d8b3df3a8c6d78be93ccb80e5f8718a70d3e638c39b2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023120601124_b55402221065995b1711d8b3df3a8c6d78be93ccb80e5f8718a70d3e638c39b2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russian Army NT"> <figcaption>Rupak Karki was killed on 30 June after joining the Russian Army to fight on the Ukraine front. A photo appearing to show is grave has been published on a memorial site.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023120606120_11712156bdb7dcd6770838694f087b251589bb76217aa0e0bcac45cdefec6aad.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023120606120_11712156bdb7dcd6770838694f087b251589bb76217aa0e0bcac45cdefec6aad" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="959" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis in Russia NT"> <figcaption>Sandip Thapaliya, who died on 28 June, is said to be buried in the same gravesite as Rupak Karki.</figcaption> </figure>  Among those <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/3-more-nepalis-in-russian-army-killed">killed in action</a> besides Bharat Shah are Pritam Karki of Syangja, Raj Kumar Roka of Dolakha, Sandip Thapaliya, Rupak Karki of Kapilvastu and Ganga Raj Moktan of Ilam. A Russian website <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/graves-of-nepali-soldiers-in-russia">published photos of the graves of Thapaliya and Karki</a> who it said were killed in June in Bakhmut. Their names are engraved in Cyrillic script on the tombstones. The Nepal government has tried to control nationals going to Russia, except on business and student visas, and arrested a dozen recruiters said to be involved in supplying soldiers to the Russian Army last week in Kathmandu.&nbsp; However, recruiters and human traffickers are now said to have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-in-the-russian-army-want-to-quit">moved their operations to the Gulf</a> where they are actively recruiting Nepalis working there as security guards. Some of the Nepalis in the Russian Army are either former Maoist guerrillas or retired from the Nepal Police or Army. Ram Chandra Khadka is from Khara in Rukum, which saw a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=328">fierce battle between the Maoist militia and the Nepal Army</a> in 2002. Khadka himself rose to be Company Commander with the Maoists, and after the ceasefire served in Afghanistan. Khadka, 36, was recruited by agents in October in Kathmandu and sent directly to the frontlines where he was wounded by a mortar round dropped from a Ukrainian drone in Bakhmut. He is being treated for shrapnel wounds in a Moscow hospital. Several Nepalis have deserted the Russian Army and one of them who somehow found his way back to Kathmandu in November warned fellow Nepalis in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKxLKW80MoU">video interview with Himal Khabar</a> not to fall for the promises of human traffickers. Recruiters promise Nepalis six months of training during which they are paid Rs500,000 a month, that they will fight behind Russian soldiers, and will get Russian citizenship. However, even if they are paid the Nepalis get much less than promised and are sent to the frontlines with less than a week’s training where they are used as human shields to expose Ukrainian firing positions. There have been so many Nepalis trying to desert that one Nepali POW in Ukraine said Russian units have taken away the passports of Nepali recruits and put them under surveillance in the trenches on the frontlines.

6 Nepali KIA and 4 POWs in Ukraine

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

If you were raised in Nepal, you must have picked up its unique set of vocabulary: आन्दोलन, चक्का जाम, बन्द, राँके जुलुस, आफ्नो मान्छे, हाम्रो दल, कर्फु and many more words connoting political protest.
We became familiar with the acrid smell of burning tyres, and eyes smarting from tear gas. And yet, everyone speaks of another revolution in the making. Not by desire, but by suffocation.
We heard speeches about नयाँ नेपाल, but the New Nepal never arrived. The governance system changed, but it did not reflect on people’s lives — except for those close to centres of power. The state is still unreachable and is not bothered about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of loan sharks</a>, cooperative scams and other injustices.
Politicians continue to speak in sound bites, but fail to deliver. They have mastered the game of pointing fingers towards an external enemy and convincing people that they are never at fault. The political narrative is so disconnected from the actual analysis of the problem that suffocation doesn’t go away after every revolution.
No genuine effort has been made to deliver at all, which is why there is a palpable sense of disillusionment in the air forcing us to seek another revolution, even if Nepal may not be able to afford it.
How has the current system successfully held power, even if the public is deeply frustrated? How is it that for three decades we continue to be led by the same faces, who have time and again, proved to us that they may be great politicians but not national leaders?
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/improving-internet-governance-in-nepal">My experience at the epicentre of politics</a> has led me to identify three cultures that have enabled political parties to keep a tight hold on power: acceptance, silence and dependency.
We accept things the way they are. We use fatalistic phrases like “नेपालमा यस्तै हो” or “नेपालको कानुन दैब जानुन”. While this resilience enables us to rise back up from devastating calamities, it is also a reason for our compliance with the status quo.
Despite so many ‘revolutions’ that have led to significant reforms, these phrases keep getting reinforced, to the point that the upcoming generations have made it their lingo.&nbsp;
This acceptance is not a symbol of law-abiding citizens, but citizens living in fear of those in power, unable to ask the whys and why-nots.
Innovation suffocates in this culture of acceptance of the status quo. This is manifested in remarks like “but we don’t have any laws for this,” or “we don’t have the capacity to implement this”. An innovator or entrepreneur therefore has to spend that energy to become a political lobbyist, often educating and convincing the bureaucracy.&nbsp;
Remember when locally assembled <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/designed-and-made-in-nepal">Yatri motorbikes</a>, despite having willing customers, had to suffer to secure license numbers because of a lack of regulations? Instead of creating new laws, the government kept chanting the “We will promote Nepal-made goods” mantra, leaving entrepreneurs in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. The weight of acceptance of the law lies heavily on innovators. Fatalism is a tactic used by those in power to generate mass fear in society.
When we accept, we become silent. This is a pervasive phenomenon. We are trained to keep quiet, lest we ruffle feathers, burn bridges, or not get the help we need in future. We know, yet we don’t speak.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">Bureaucratic hurdles in researching Nepal's bureaucracy</a>, Daniel W Edwards
Here is one example: the 2021 census shows that the number of baby boys born for every 100 baby girls is 112. This is a clear indication of female foeticide because of boy preference in society.
Despite such horrifying realities, there is finger-pointing within the government between the Ministry of Health and Population with the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the citizen level, we know those who are involved in killing girls. Yet, we don’t speak up. The Nepal Medical Council reports state that despite this gender imbalance at birth, there is no indication of any action.
But why would anyone speak against one's own fraternity, no matter how vile the act is?
When we accept and keep quiet, we become dependent on those who yield power. From getting our government procedure completed on time to getting transfers, to accessing any of our legally protected rights as well, we are forced to depend on our networks of चिनेको मान्छे people we know by blood, village, relations, political affiliation.
The culture of dependency has been the established way in Nepal. If you drive a two-wheeler or four-wheeler, and you get into a small accident, you will be asked to sort it yourself, dialing up the most powerful person you know. It becomes a competition of who knows who.
Recently I was told that there were calls from the Ministry of Health and Population and another from the Prime Minister's Office for just one medical position in a private hospital. Each was pushing its own candidate. Guess which candidate got the position.&nbsp;
The dependency of people is not on the laws or the state, it is with people in power, a reliance on the network of somebody who knows somebody, including those not officially in power.
These cultures are deeply ingrained in our heads, and in society. Collectively they form a vicious circle that helps those in power to retain power. This is not the society we want to live in.
Then, what do we do as a collective to break away from this? How do we break away from the cultures of acceptance and silence that have created this dependency? What can we do to ensure that our children do not have to learn the jargon of आन्दोलन before they learn about the state?
These are the cultures political parties need to shed rather than use them to perpetuate their power. This is what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/an-alternative-to-alternative-politics-in-nepal">alternative politics</a> needs to be about.
Sumana Shrestha is a member of Parliament’s Education, Health and Information Technology parliamentary committee and represents the Rastriya Swatantara Party.

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