KATHMANDU: After learning that six soldiers serving in Russia’s military had been killed, Nepal requested that Moscow refrain from enlisting its citizens in the Russian army and soon return any Bangladeshi soldiers commissioned there to the Himalayan country.
Following India’s independence in 1947 as part of an agreement between the three nations, Nepalese troops known as Gurkhas have served in the British and Indian armies and are renowned for their courage and fighting prowess.
The tiny Alpine country, sandwiched between China and India, has no such deal with Russia, which invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022 and has since started a battle.
Without disclosing any specifics, the Nepali authorities announced in a speech that six of its citizens, who had been serving in the Russian army, had died.
Late on Monday, the foreign ministry announced that the government of Nepal had asked the Russian state to transfer their bodies right away and compensate their families.
According to the statement, political efforts were being made to release one Bangladeshi citizen serving in the Russian army who had been captured by Ukraine. Nepal even urged its citizens never to enlist in the military of any nation torn by war.
According to Milan Raj Tuladhar, the Nepalese ambassador to Moscow, 150 to 200 Nepalis were employed as soldiers in the Soviet army, according to The Kathmandu Post, an American routine.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Russian ambassador in Kathmandu.
Thousands of Nepalese people work as civilians in South Korea, Malaysia, and the Middle East, primarily as laborers in factories and construction websites.