• Oppo. MP urges Govt. to initiate repatriation 
• Victim’s wife alleges Russian diplomatic involvement

In the wake of growing concern about multiple rackets involved in sending retired Sri Lankan armed forces personnel to Russia and Ukraine as mercenaries, Opposition Parliamentarian Gamini Waleboda urged the Speaker of the Parliament to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to look into the matter.

Over the last month, families of victims and Sri Lankan caught up in the mercenary racket have aired their grievances, some calling on politicians and the law enforcement authorities to investigate the matter and help repatriate those affected in the front lines of the Russian-Ukrainian war. 

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (14), MP Waleboda said that the Government should act immediately to repatriate former Sri Lankan soldiers who have been sent to Russia and Ukraine in a context where the threat to their lives increases day by day. He also said that a number of MPs, including himself, receive dozens of calls from those soldiers and their relatives requesting the authorities to save their lives. Waleboda also noted that the issue is more severe than it looks and that therefore, the Ministry of Defence and the other authorities must actively engage with the Russian authorities to get these ‘helpless’ soldiers back. He also said that around 600-700 soldiers have reportedly been sent to Russia as mercenaries, according to sources. He urged the Government to initiate a programme in this regard and to focus on implementing policies to use the retired military workforce for the country’s development.

Meanwhile, speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday, a resident of Udubaddawa in Kuliyapitiya, who is the wife of a retired soldier who had traveled to Russia, said that the traffickers send retired soldiers, claiming that they will be recruited to the Russian Army. She noted that around 25 individuals were sent to Russia along with her husband. She said that her husband paid around Rs. 1.5 million to the person who sent him to Russia. “My husband worked for the Special Forces. After retiring, he did some jobs until he met the person who sent him. According to my husband, that person has told him that there will be some opportunities to join the Russian Army, claiming that he will later facilitate getting me and the two children to Russia,” she said. 

She alleged that certainly, these traffickers do have connections with certain individuals inside the Russian Federation Embassy in Sri Lanka. Several attempts made to contact the Russian Federation Embassy in Sri Lanka to ascertain and establish the veracity of this allegation proved futile.

In addition, responding to a question raised by MPs in the Parliament on Monday (13), State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon said that the military intelligence agencies and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) are working to identify these traffickers while the Government is taking measures to resolve the matter as soon as possible. However, according to the CID, certain figures brought up by various parties cannot be confirmed since the investigations are still underway regarding the identities of these individuals. 

Against this backdrop, the Police urged the relatives of the individuals who have left the country to join the armed conflict in Russian and Ukraine, to provide information regarding them through the contact number, 0718592831.