Russia plans to bring in at least 72,000 migrants from India in 2025 to compensate for "labour resource shortages", Moskovsky Komsomolets reported.

The official 2025 foreign worker quota totals 235,000 nationwide, with India allocated 71,817 officially, according to Russian released statistics; however, that number could be dwarfed by applications from across India, where low-paid workers get just $60 a month, according to some sources from New Delhi and Bombay. 

According to some sources, Russia may allow up to 1mn Indian visas; however, the ministry has since denied this, calling it "unrealistic." 

Boris Titov, a special representative of Russian President Putin, said that at least 42,000 Indians will arrive in Moscow and other cities across the country, with that number already filled, according to social media reports.

"How many there will be in fact is still unknown, but it is expected to be no less than 40,000," Titov hinted.

The special representative provided statistics on permit issuances: in 2022, 8,000 Indians received them; in 2023, 14,000; and in 2024, 36,000.

"India could help Russia with the labour resource deficit. The same Dubai was built mainly by Indian workers, architects and developers," Titov added, noting growing interest from Indians. 

However, an Independent newspaper report said that Russian authorities are using the labour agreement deal with India to fill up its military ranks with unsuspecting Indian mercenaries.

According to that report, citing their families, two Indian men, who had travelled to Russia on student visas, were killed after ending up on the front lines in Ukraine.  

“The bodies of Ajay Godara, 22, from Bikaner in Rajasthan state, and Rakesh Kumar Maurya, 30, from Uttarakhand, have since been returned and handed over to their relatives,” the paper reported.

In videos seen by their families, the two men, before their deaths, alleged that they agreed to work in non-combatant civilian roles as cleaners and helpers, only later to discover they had been enlisted in the Russian army.

More than 200 Indian nationals have allegedly been recruited into the Russian armed forces since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, the report noted.

Russia appears to be recruiting across several countries, with earlier reports from Iran showing images of an alleged recruitment poster in the Persian language, asking Iranian men, including those in the military and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, to join the Russian front.

The Russian embassy in Tehran vehemently denied the authenticity of the report, as bnm IntelliNews previously reported in December.