No contradiction with army on LAC situation, says ministry

New Delhi confirmed on Friday that 12 Indian nationals have so far been killed while serving with the Russian armed forces and another 16 have been listed as missing; a higher casualty figure than previously acknowledged by officials.

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI:

Indian authorities had learnt of a total of 126 Indians serving with the Russian military and 96 of them had been discharged so far by Russian authorities, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a regular media briefing in response to several questions.

The toll given on Friday was higher than the number of deaths acknowledged so far by Indian officials. Till last year, officials had confirmed nine deaths and the external affairs ministry said on Tuesday that a resident of Kerala was recently killed while serving with the Russian Army. There were no reports of Indians listed as missing so far.

"Twelve Indian nationals who were serving in the Russian Army have died in the conflict," Jaiswal said.

"Out of the 126 known cases of Indian nationals serving in the Russian armed forces, 96 individuals have already returned. They have been discharged from the Russian armed forces," he said.

Of the remaining 18 Indian nationals in the Russian armed forces, the whereabouts of 16 individuals are currently not known and the "Russian side has categorised them as missing", Jaiswal said.

"We remain engaged with the Russian authorities to ascertain the whereabouts of the missing Indian nationals and for early release and repatriation of those who remain," he said. Jaiswal said Indian authorities are in touch with the families of all 16 missing persons but declined to provide