Issue of Lankan mercenaries fighting for Kyiv ignored – Russian envoy in Colombo

War in Ukraine:

By Norman Palihawadane

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Moscow said yesterday that Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, who is currently in Russia to participate in the BRICS 2024 Foreign Ministerial Session with developing countries, had a bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday (10).

Minister Sabry, during the meeting, brought to the attention of his Russian counterpart the issue of Sri Lankan citizens who have joined the Russian Armed Forces and sought his assistance in resolving the issues encountered by them.

At the request of Minister Ali Sabry, it was also agreed that there would be no further recruitment from Sri Lanka, the Embassy said.

Russia’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Levan Dzhagaryan, during a press conference held in Colombo last week, said he was surprised that the issue of Lankan mercenaries fighting for Ukraine had been ignored. Ambassador Dzhagaryan underscored the efforts undertaken by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russian competent authorities in order to sort out the issue pertaining to the Lankan citizens involved in the conflict in Ukraine.

Defence Secretary Gen. (retd) Kamal Gunaratne said on Monday that the government expected that Russian authorities would provide a detailed list of the number of Sri Lanka’s ex-military personnel serving at the Russian front against the Ukrainian army.

Addressing the media in Colombo, Gen. Gunaratne said that they expected the Russian authorities to provide a comprehensive list of Lankans at a forthcoming high-level meeting scheduled for 26 and 27 June in Moscow.

The upcoming meeting is scheduled to be attended by the Sri Lankan high-level delegation led by State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya and the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation.

“We intend to contact Lankan mercenaries serving there and facilitate the return of those who are willing to come back. We have also asked for details of Lankan soldiers wounded and being treated there. We’ll bring them home and are planning to complete their treatments at the Army Hospital,” Gen Gunaratne said.

He said that he was also the Chairman of National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force and the offences of sending Lankans to the Russia-Ukraine war front had been done by human traffickers. “The matter is being investigated and several senior former officers, including a very senior Army officer, have been found involved in this racket. We would take the severest possible action against these racketeers,” Gen Gunaratne said, adding that as of Monday morning 42 such ex-servicemen who fled the Russia-Ukraine front have returned home.

Police said that as of yesterday morning they have received 491 complaints from the families of Lankans gone missing in Russia and Ukraine.