News
‘We want our men back’
View(s):- More than 100 relatives of Sri Lankan fighters in Russia gather at the N.M. Perera Centre in Borella to discuss their plight
By Namini Wijedasa
But while the matter (which was highlighted for weeks in Indian media) has now been addressed at the highest levels between New Delhi and Moscow, the relatives of hundreds of Sri Lankans enlisted as mercenaries in the Russian military have no respite despite suffering the same fate.
Sri Lanka sent a lower-level delegation headed by State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya for talks in Russia on June 26-27. They met with Russia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrey Rudenko and Deputy Minister of Defence Colonel General A.V. Fomin, among others.
N.M. Perera Centre: They came from Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kegalle, Embilipitiya and so on to talk about their loved ones
Unless senior members of the Sri Lanka government take a firm stand, however, families here are unlikely to extract concrete action or even promises of repatriation from the Russians, said Dayasiri Jayasekera, Kurunegala district parliamentarian, who was part of the team.
The battle continues
This week, more than 100 relatives of Sri Lankan fighters in Russia gathered at the N.M. Perera Centre in Borella to discuss their plight. They came from Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kegalle, Embilipitiya and so on. Some were aged, others brought young children. And some haven’t had a telephone call from their loved ones in weeks. Among them is an ex-Special Forces soldier the Sunday Times interviewed in April this year.
Families we spoke with this week did not wish to be named for fear of repercussions for their menfolk “trapped” in Russia. “They are at the mercy of the Russians, miss,” one woman said. “We have to be careful.”
All had similar stories. Their men were ex-military including infantry, Special Forces and commandos with extensive frontline experience. After retirement, they worked in other jobs before being lured by the promise of highly paid, “non-combat” roles in the Russian army by former senior officers of the Sri Lankan forces.
“He trusted his senior officer because they were together during the war,” said Janaka (not his real name) whose 50-year-old military veteran brother-in-law from Polonnaruwa is hospitalised with injuries in Russia. The father-of-two went there in March 2024 through a Major Dissanayake who was subsequently arrested. He mortgaged his three-wheeler and pawned gold jewelry to pay Rs. 1.1mn to the agent.
“The message goes around from mouth to mouth, sometimes through WhatsApp groups,” Janaka said. “He was promised Rs. 800,000 to 1mn a month to work in civilian posts in the Russian army, in liberated areas or camps or in road building and construction. They said he would not be sent to war.”
“Because it came from retired senior army officers, we could not sway him,” Janaka said. “I even showed him YouTube videos of the situation in Russia and told him it’s dangerous. But he didn’t accept it. Some Sinhala people in Russia also reassured him they were living well there.”
Reality soon struck. He was sent to the frontlines. He received no salary or allowance, but for a small payment he got after being wounded. He wasn’t able to call home. Food was scarce and there was barely any drinking water. They stayed in bunkers and would use bags as toilets, flinging them out into the woods.
“There were Ukrainian drones all the time,” Janaka said. “The day he was hit, he crawled under a bush and hid there for hours while a drone hovered above, waiting for him to exit. None of these men would’ve gone had they known they would be deployed in battle. They were cheated.”
His brother-in-law called from the hospital on Friday. He was in crutches and was afraid he would be re-deployed once his wounds healed. Doctors are still pulling shrapnel out of his body. He has been promised his salary. But nothing is certain. “We want him back,” Janaka said.
Everyone wants them back
The unified cry among relatives this week was for the fighters to be brought back. The Sri Lankan delegation has also asked the Russians for compensation for an estimated 72 injured soldiers; and for facilities to be made available for the 121 mercenaries who haven’t called home to contact their families. Out of a total recorded 464 mercenaries, 17 have been confirmed dead through Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These relatives have now provided statements to the Criminal Investigation Department and written letters to everyone possible including the Presidential Secretariat, the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka (a group of relatives also met the Russian Ambassador in Colombo), the United Nations and Defence Ministry.
A key complication is that the Sri Lankan fighters had signed agreements, reportedly to serve for one year. The papers were in Russian and incomprehensible to them. Another claim made by the Russians to the Sri Lankan delegation was that “96.7 percent” of Sri Lanka fighters have consented to Russian citizenship. But they offered no proof of such statements or evidence of Russian passports or identification issued.
It has been agreed to set up a joint committee with the Sri Lankan Embassy in Russia and the Russian Defence and Foreign Ministries. There is no sign yet of this having been done.
As for the missing salaries, it was found that middlemen in Russia had taken photographs of the bank cards issued to the Sri Lankan fighters and entered their own telephone numbers in documents. When a deposit was made, the one-time password (OTP) went to the telephones of the middlemen who reportedly appropriated the cash. Some mercenaries had received small payments, others got nothing at all.
Escalating debts
This has compounded worsening debts in the Sri Lankan households of these fighters. Some wives are no longer getting their husband’s pensions. Thilak (not his real name) from Polonnaruwa is an ex-soldier whose brother hasn’t contacted him in over four months. He sees this problem escalating.
“Every December, the pension recipient must sign a proof-of-life form,” he said. “This December, if the soldiers that went to Russia don’t do it, they will lose their benefits by January next year. Their wives cannot get the pension either as they can’t produce a death certificate for their husbands.”
Malkanthi (not her real name) from Embilipitiya has a 10-year-old child. Her 44-year-old husband hasn’t called her since June 12. The interest payment on the loan they took for him to go to Russia is alone Rs. 140,000 a month. She is now two months in arrears. The previous month her brother had lent the money; before that, her mother pawned her gold necklace. There’s nothing left.
Thilak’s brother had mortgaged his house and property. The interest payment is Rs. 175,000 a month. “I’m not even thinking of that right now,” he said. “I’m focusing on finding him and getting him back while caring for my own family and his.”
Those whose loved ones have gone silent pray that this is because they don’t have phones at the battlefront. Their resolve is strengthened when, once in a while, someone calls following a long absence and the message gets passed around.
Many are hopeful their men can return after the “one-year agreement”–which they haven’t seen–expires. “But the way it’s going, I don’t know if we will even lose our right to even speak on their behalf,” said Janaka. “Will we ever get them back?”
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