Bangladesh families seek sons feared fighting for Russia

DHAKA: Young Bangladeshi men desperate for work allege they have been tricked into fighting for Russia against Ukraine, with the reported death of a 22-year-old sparking a surge of worried calls.

Bangladesh´s embassy in Moscow has said around a dozen families have contacted them seeking to bring back their sons they allege were duped into joining the Russian army. “We had no idea we´d end up on the battlefield,” said Mohammad Akram Hossain, who claimed he and his brother-in-law had registered with a recruiting agency and were originally promised jobs in Cyprus, before being offered work in Russia.

“The recruiting agency said that only work visas for Russia were available, and we agreed to go,” the 26-year-old told AFP, now back home in the South Asian nation. “But we never imagined we would be abandoned like that.”

Unemployment is high in Bangladesh and the economy was hit hard by protests last year that toppled the government. Worried relatives have been messaging Bangladeshi diplomats in Moscow after one family said their son Mohammed Yasin Sheikh, 22, was killed on March 27 while serving in the Russian army.

Abul Hashem, Sheikh´s uncle, said the family was called by his friend during the Muslim holiday of Eid at the end of March. “Yasin´s friend, who is also fighting for the Russian side and a Bangladeshi, called us on Eid and informed us that Yasin had been killed,” Hashem told AFP.

“Later, we received a call from a Russian commander.” Sheikh´s family say they gave him money to travel when he left Bangladesh in September 2024, after a broker promised him work with a Chinese company in Russia as an electrician. But, they said, he ended up joining the Russian army in December.

“We spent a lot to send him, and now we are waiting for his dead body,” Hashem said. “We´ve requested the Bangladesh government to take steps so that his mother can bid him farewell.” But Farhad Hossain, Bangladesh´s charge d´affaires in Moscow, said the embassy was aware of the reported casualty.

“We learned about Md Yasin Sheikh a few days ago, and have engaged with our Russian counterparts on the issue,” he said, adding that the embassy could not confirm his death, or any other Bangladeshi casualties, and was awaiting a response from Moscow.