Bangladesh arrests two people for deceiving locals into fighting for Russia in Ukraine

According to police, 20 Bangladeshi victims were killed after Russia used them as "bait" to locate enemy positions.

Police in Bangladesh have arrested two people they say are linked to a smuggling ring that fraudulently recruited locals to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

Mohammad Asdoozman, the commander of the Special Response Battalion of the Zebedeh Police Force, said on Wednesday that the suspects, Mizan Rahman and Abu Taher, smuggled at least 30 people to Russia with false promises of lucrative jobs.

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After leaving the country, the victims' passports and phones were taken and handed over to the Russian military, he said.

Seventeen of the trafficking victims who arrived in Russia in early May died on the first day of deployment after minimal training, Esduzzaman said. 20 Bangladeshis are confirmed dead.

"Bangladeshis were used as bait to determine enemy positions," he said. "Russian forces have decided their next course of action after Bangladeshi people became victims of drone strikes."

In addition to the 20 dead Bangladeshis, two others are being treated in a hospital in Moscow and six others are still on the battlefield, police said, quoting one of the injured survivors who managed to return home.

The victims were from poor backgrounds and had paid about $8,000 for fake jobs, Bangladeshi media reported, that brought them to Russia.

Both Russia and Ukraine have recruited thousands of foreign nationals into their military since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine four and a half years ago.

About 28,000 foreigners from 136 countries are said to be fighting in Russia's military, and officials believe Moscow has deployed about 14,000 North Korean troops to the Kursk region to counter a Ukrainian invasion in 2024.

Meanwhile, Ukraine says 16,000 foreign nationals from more than 70 countries — including nearly 40 percent from Latin America — currently serve in its military.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was fraudulently recruiting people from 47 countries for an "absolutely barbaric" campaign and urged countries not to let Moscow drag them into the war.

Amnesty International has also accused Russia of using "deceptive, coercive and exploitative methods" to recruit foreigners to fight on the Ukrainian front.

Russia has previously denied accusations of forcing foreigners to join its military.

Amnesty International says it cannot investigate foreigners in Ukraine's military because it does not have access to prisoners of war held in Russia, which the human rights group describes as a "foreign agent".