Bangladeshi men tricked into fighting Russia's war

DW (English)

To continue its assault on Ukraine, Russia is relying in part on foreign fighters. In Bangladesh, DW met with the families of several young men now fighting in the Russian army, who say they were trafficked and coerced by fraudsters.

Transcript

00:00This family on the outskirts of Dhaka is living through a nightmare.

00:05Aminul, son, husband and father, paid around 8,000 U.S. dollars to a Bangladeshi travel

00:11broker to help him find work abroad.

00:13After he left the country, his wife Juma received the shocking news that he was fighting with

00:18the Russian military in Ukraine.

00:21Then she lost contact with him for several weeks.

00:25If I or my husband knew that he would be sent to the war, we would never have paid to have

00:30him sent off to die.

00:32Do you think we wanted to pay for him to die?

00:34He went to them hoping to get a job.

00:37The brokers lied to us and sold my husband to the Russian army.

00:42At least seven Bangladeshi men or their families have alleged that this agency in Dhaka promised

00:47them work abroad but then trafficked them into the Russian military.

00:51One of the men has been reported killed in the war.

00:55Arman Mandol is another one of the agency's clients.

00:58He says the brokers promised him work as a cleaner in Russia, but once he arrived there,

01:03he claims, Russian officials coerced him into the military.

01:06They told us to sign a paper written in Russian.

01:12We didn't understand it.

01:14It was actually a document to join the Russian army and we signed it without understanding

01:20it.

01:25Arman says he was sent to a two-week training camp and then deployed to Ukraine.

01:29There, he was injured in both legs by a landmine.

01:34He spoke to DW from his hospital bed in Russia and told us he's looking for a way back to

01:38Bangladesh.

01:39We are going through a difficult time in Russia.

01:45I hope I can go back to my country.

01:47I want to see my family.

01:49I don't want to be here anymore.

01:51I want to survive.

01:53Outraged by the situation, several of the men's families filed charges with the police

01:57against the owners of the Dhaka agency, Fabia T. and Abul H.

02:02Fabia was arrested at the Dhaka airport and charged with human trafficking.

02:07The case is being tried at this court in the capital, where plaintiffs' families gathered

02:12looking for information about their missing loved ones.

02:16Fabia and her lawyers declined to speak to DW.

02:20The Dhaka agency, at the center of the allegations, has been closed by the police.

02:26But we reached co-owner Abul by video link from a location outside of Bangladesh that

02:30he did not disclose to us.

02:32He claims that he didn't intend for his clients to end up as soldiers.

02:40We sent them with visas to work as cleaners and for a salary of about $1,000 per month.

02:46But they signed a second agreement with a lucrative offer of over $16,000 monthly salary.

02:53They did not inform me, nor the brother of my partner, who went there with them.

03:01We learned all this after they were totally entrapped.

03:07Abul says he's not hiding from the police and intends to cooperate with the investigation.

03:14If I committed any offense, I will surrender myself to the law.

03:19I am prepared to face trial according to Bangladeshi law.

03:25The Bangladeshi government is negotiating with Russia to bring home the men presumed

03:29to still be there.

03:30A spokesperson for the foreign ministry said this was a clear case of coercion.

03:37Those who are going to the Ukraine war are not doing it willingly.

03:41We can say that they're pressured into it by travel brokers.

03:45Either they're offered something lucrative or, once they're abroad, they're lured into

03:49it with offers of money.

03:51It's an illegal scheme and they as well travel there illegally.

03:54We're trying to crack down on it, but it's a difficult task, because even with the help

03:58of the UN, we're failing in our attempts to combat illegal migration.

04:04This case of alleged trafficking is not the only one of its kind in Bangladesh.

04:08Police say they suspect 67 people of luring Bangladeshis into other countries, including

04:13Russia, with lucrative offers.

04:15The scale of their operations is not known.

04:18We're trying to weed out the entire human trafficking gang operating this new route

04:23to Russia.

04:25Some of the operations are here in Bangladesh.

04:28But this route, this human trafficking route, is new.

04:33That's why we're taking it seriously and we're trying to stop this thing.

04:39After weeks of uncertainty, Juma finally received a message from her husband letting her know

04:44that he's still alive.

04:47But they both know his journey back home will be difficult.

04:51It's still unclear if Russia will allow him to leave, and if so, how long it will be before

04:56she and their children see him again.

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