KATHMANDU — Over more than three years of war in Ukraine, reports have regularly surfaced of international soldiers — including those from China and North Korea — fighting for the Russian side. Less known, but perhaps no less significant are the stories of Nepalese soldiers funneled into Moscow’s orbit, some of whom don’t even know a war is ongoing when they make the decision to leave for Russia in search of a better life.
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Several hundred thousand poor young men enter draft age every year in Nepal. And in this nation of less than 30 million, Vladimir Putin has reportedly found a new reservoir of soldiers.
Dawn in the Nepalese capital begins before six. One would like to sleep in some more, but roosters start to caw, making it impossible to sleep. Where do people keep them? This is Thamel, the most commercialized part of Kathmandu.
Half an hour later, the sounds of coughing and snorting and spitting starts to penetrate through the cracks in the windows. The residents of Thamel are trying to expel the smog that has accumulated there overnight from their bronchi, throats and noses.
A moment later, the crackling of pots is heard. In kitchens set up on rooftops, women are cooking dal bhat, or lentil soup, and rice. Then comes the full blend of city sounds: bright voices, the wailing of sitars, dense drums. The entire area is filled with the hymn “Om Namah Shivaya” played at full volume in praise of the god Shiva.
After 8 a.m., the noise level increases rapidly. Blinds in shops slam shut. Shop assistants call out to customers. Seamstresses set a Singer machine in motion with their feet to produce more T-shirts. The faithful ring the bells in the ubiquitous temples. Drivers blow their horns. Taxi drivers call out to customers.
That’s right, our taxi is here! We run out of our backpacker hotel and soak in the hustle and bustle of the Nepalese capital.
Why Nepalese people immigrate
After 20 minutes, we get out of the taxi in front of the house of Kritu Bhandari, an activist who has been running the campaign “Save Nepalese Lives in the Russian Army.” We flew to Nepal to understand why so many citizens of this country have decided to fight for Putin.
We also wanted to do our best to understand the true scale of this unlikely migration of Nepalese mercenaries. In February 2024, after CNN reported that there were 15,000 men from Nepal fighting in Ukraine, the Nepalese government downplayed the matter, claiming that the problem affected 200 people.
Nepotism, corruption and other pathologies plague this poor country,
Her real name is Menuka, but everyone knows her as Kritu. This name was given to her years ago by comrades from the Communist Party of Nepal — in a fraction known as the Maoist Center.
Today, she is active in the Communist Party of Nepal, which is separate from the Socialist Union that was formed as a result of a split in the Maoists, a force that launched an armed rebellion against the King of Nepal in 1996.
The civil war ended after a decade, and its result was the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic. Neither the then triumphant Maoists nor the communists from the KPN — Marxist-Leninist Union, who currently lead the government coalition — seek to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat.
All here appear to accept the democratic rules of the game, which mostly consists of attempts to cobble together a coalition in a fragmented parliament made up of older gentlemen detached from the realities of life.
British goldmine
There is also rampant nepotism, corruption and other pathologies that plague this poor country, devoid of industry, living in the shadow of powerful neighbors — India and China.
All of this to say that such clear lack of prospects pushes Nepalese people to emigrate. And only thanks to remittance money sent back by immigrants do those who remain in the country somehow make ends meet. One third of Nepal’s GDP is money transfers from emigrants.
And among those are Nepalese mercenaries. They serve in Britain, India and Singapore, and have done so for 200 years of service. One of the few reliable employers in the country is the army — and not necessarily the Nepalese one.
Some opt for the possibility of legal service in the armies of Britain and India, as well as in the Singapore police. This tradition is over 200 years old, beginning with the British, who’d experienced first-hand the valor of the Gurkhas, a people whose ruler in the 18th century united microscopic states by force of arms into the kingdom of Nepal, and created mercenary units for them.
For a long time, Nepalese peoples other than Gurkhas have also served in Nepalese brigades abroad (Nepalese are divided into over 140 ethnic groups/castes speaking over 120 languages). The most desirable service due to high earnings and high pensions is the British Army. For example, the record-breaking mountaineer Nirmal Purja is a former Gurkha.
However, there is currently only room for 4,000 Nepalese in the British Army; 300 people are accepted annually (out of 20,000 applicants).
Some 2,000 Gurkhas serve in the Singapore Police Force (150 people are accepted annually). The Nepalese brigades in the Indian Army are much larger — 32,000, with up to 1,500 beginning their service each year.
Meager salaries
However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi changed the rules for military recruitment in 2022. The new system assumes that soldiers are recruited for four years. After that, only the best 25% remain in the army. The rest drop out, and they are not entitled to pension benefits for four years of service.
Previously, Gurkhas could serve in India for up to 17 years, and boys were also drawn to it precisely because of the prospect of a pension, which in Nepal is a luxury reserved for public sector employees.
Many came asking about work abroad
Clearly, the word “luxury” is not particularly appropriate here. “Even a retired soldier receives a pitiful salary here,” says Dipendra Gurung.
Gurung’s brother, Minraj Gurung, disappeared somewhere in Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, and hasn’t been heard from.
Illegally sent to Ukraine
In Nepal, the average monthly salary is $166. For many, this means they are desperate to go abroad in search of a better life. And that can require succumbing to risky and expensive human trafficking schemes.
For example, employment agent Ramesh Budhatoki, whose testimony we obtained in the District Court in Kathmandu, charged $9,500 per person.
Since there are no direct flights from Nepal to Russia, Budhatoki teamed up with a Nepalese friend in Dubai. “I would send him people to Dubai, and he would put them on a plane to Moscow. Another friend would pick them up there and help them get into the army.”
Budhatoki testified that many people came to him asking about work abroad. “I recommended the Russian army. I found information on Google that you can earn 700 thousand Nepalese rupees ($512) per month, and in the event of death, the family receives 20 million rupees ($146,000),”
During the trial, Budhatoki repeatedly declares that he is innocent and that he did not commit a crime because “people themselves wanted it,” and he “only sent them to Dubai.”
Many weren’t even aware that there was a war going on there.
The broker testified. “It was a great offer. I told them: you won’t fight, but you’ll help, carry weapons, take care of transport. Many people weren’t even aware that there was a war going on there.”
Middlemen and open trials
The middleman Ramesh Budhatoki sent 56 of his countrymen to war. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison under the human trafficking section.
“We collected and handed over to the police the data of 70 middlemen. The police arrested 38 of them,” says Kritu Bhandari. “Some of them had to be released due to lack of evidence, because either the middlemen did not keep the evidence or destroyed it.”
But the trials are ongoing. In addition to Budhatoki, four human traffickers have already been convicted, who managed to prove their activity thanks to the preserved bank transfers. Each of them took from 700,000 to 1.15 million rupees to arrange a visa to Russia.
So how many Nepalese were illegally sent to the war in Ukraine? The Nepalese government has no official data on this. Kritu Bandhari, who revealed the existence of this mechanism, is in contact with the families of more than 3,000 mercenaries.
So where did the number of 15,000 Nepalese serving Russia come from, as reported by CNN?
Returns and Russian citizenship
“When I started investigating the case, I contacted a Nepalese who was a commander of our compatriots in the Russian army. He said that he had seen a list of Nepalese in the Russian army and that the serial numbers went up to 14,700,” explains Kritu Bhandari. “I told this to American journalists, and they concluded that that was how many Nepalese were serving. But this commander could have looked at the end of the list, when there could have been soldiers of other nationalities on the earlier pages.”
She herself believes that the number of Nepalese mercenaries is definitely closer to 3,000 thousand than 15,000.
The Russians confirmed the deaths of 58 Nepalese after DNA tests. However, at least 83 families accepted the deaths of their loved ones. There are 310 Nepalese who are considered missing in Ukraine.
Bhandari also estimates that 300 to 400 mercenaries have returned to the country, and more than 600 have accepted Russian citizenship. At least 19 Nepalese are in Ukrainian prison camps, although the Ukrainian authorities have officially confirmed the identities of only five of them.
