Nepal Urges Return of Citizens from Ukraine Amid Diplomatic Efforts

Kathmandu. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has completely banned Nepalis from going to Ukraine, as diplomatic efforts have begun to bring back Nepalis held captive in Ukraine. Not only that, the government has also urged those already there to return.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some Nepalis who were not prisoners of war have returned. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that efforts are underway to bring back prisoners of war and other Nepalis.

Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal had urged Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha in a telephone conversation around the second week of Baishakh to help bring back Nepali prisoners of war in Ukraine. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have information on whether such Nepalis have returned yet.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri said that Ukraine had given a positive response after Foreign Minister Khanal's conversation. He stated that maximum diplomatic efforts are being made to bring back Nepalis (including prisoners of war) there.

Nepali officials are also discussing the safety of Nepali citizens with officials from Russia as well as Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated.

Families of Nepalis killed while serving in the Russian army are receiving compensation. Kritu Bhandari, who is involved in the campaign to bring back Nepalis from Russia and Ukraine and to provide them with compensation, said that she has received information that 42 people have already received compensation by the time of the elections. Approximately 200 Nepalis have died while serving in the Russian army, and more than one hundred and fifty Nepalis are missing.

While the families of those who died are receiving compensation, the Russian government has said nothing about the missing so far. The families of the missing have repeatedly urged the Nepali government as well as the Russian government to take initiative for their search. Eleven Nepalis are in captivity in Ukraine. Campaigner Bhandari said that they are in contact with their families.

It is still unclear how many Nepalis are working in the Russian army. According to a report published by the Center for Social Innovation and Foreign Policy, at the end of December 2023, the Nepali Embassy in Moscow and then Foreign Minister NP Saud had stated that about 200 Nepalis were working in the Russian army and seven had died. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have official data on this.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, 'If we consider the data in the Consular Department, more than five hundred Nepalis are working there, but this is not the official data of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.'

Among those recruited into the Russian army are former soldiers and police personnel from Nepal. It is said that young people pay agents between 800,000 to 1.1 million rupees to go to Russia. The report mentions that high-ranking military officials from Nepal are also involved as agents in this work.

The government had stopped issuing work permits for Russia and Ukraine only on January 4, 2024. Less than two months after that ban, based on the report of the task force of the Ministry of Labor, the then Labor Minister Sharatsingh Bhandari reopened institutional work permits in a way that would benefit a manpower company, which is said to have led to an additional 370 Nepalis going to Russia.

Young people who go to Russia are sent directly to the front lines of the war without proper military training and knowledge of the Russian language. According to a Nepali youth who returned from Russia, Nepalis and other foreign nationals are used as shields to protect Russian soldiers.

After the Nepali government voted in favor of Ukraine's sovereignty in the UN at the beginning of the war, Russia has not been very positive towards Nepal. The report by the Center for Social Innovation and Foreign Policy mentions that the inability of Nepal's intelligence agencies and political leadership to assess Russia's policies and their impact in a timely manner is a major weakness of Nepal.