Nepali Gorkhas Train to Enter Wagner Group; How Youth from India’s Neighbour Got Lured | Explained
Despite the mutiny drama against Vladimir Putin, Wagner Group is far from dead. In fact, reports suggest they are seeing a flurry of new members amid the war in Ukraine. Many of them come from unexpected quarters, like India’s neighbour, Nepal. Nepali Gorkhas, who are considered fierce warriors, are reportedly joining Wagner. Russia’s private army has received a huge number of applications from Nepali youth. This report tells you why Gorkhas are joining Wagner mercenaries.
Wagner Group has been seen as more efficient than the Russian army, especially after Wagner mercenaries won for Russia the control of Bakhmut, a small but strategically located city in eastern Ukraine.
Why are Gurkhas joining Wagner?
There are reports of Nepali Gurkha youths joining Wagner Group. On May 16, Russian authorities made it easy to access Russian citizenship after one year of military service. Since then, hundreds of Nepali youths have joined Russian forces as contract soldiers, The Diplomat has reported recently. Some of them are retired from the Nepal Army.
“This is a concerning situation. The Nepal government is not able to do anything about it as they have gone in an individual capacity,” strategic analyst Major General Binoj Basnyat (retired) from the Nepal Army told the EurAsian Times recently.
While Russian citizenship is a big attraction for the Nepali youth, another factor is the end to their recruitment in the Indian Army. Ties between Nepal and India came under strain when the Indian government last year replaced long-term employment with shorter contracts tenure and no pension. Nepal, weeks later, stopped the 200-year-old recruitment process until there was more clarity.
Several videos have surfaced in social media showing Nepali youths taking militray training in Russia. One Nepal Army retiree told The Diplomat he was working as a security guard in Dubai when he was lured to Russia by the more attractive offers. He traveled to Moscow as a tourist and joined the army at a Russian recruitment center. Now Russia does not look for Russian language proficiency for recruitment of foreigners. During the Ukraine war, Russia has started offering several benefits to Wagner mercenaries that it offers to its own soldiers. Irregular army recruitments, such as of convicts and foreign nationals, are typically done by Wagner which has recruits from several Baltic and Nordic countries.
Earlier, there were reports of Nepali youths joining Ukraine army to fight against Russia. The Nepali Gurkhas are considered finest warriors since they were recruited by the British colonial army and have been recruited by several other countries such as India, France and Singapore.
The rise of the private military companies
Wagner Group, though the most notorious today, is not the only private military company. In fact, two centuries back, the East India Company too had a private army. However, it worked on behalf of the British Crown. The private military companies in their current form first emerged during the Cold War when Western countries outsourced sensitive missions to them as they offered easy deniability.
There was a sudden spurt in the number of private military companies and contractors during the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Western governments and corporates hired them for security, convoy protection, logistics and rescues.
They became notorious after a major private military company Blackwater hit controversy for rogue behaviour in Iraq. Blackwater, later known as Academi which merged with various other security companies into Constellis Holdings, was one of the biggest private military companies. It was started by a former US Navy SEAL Erik Prince, and it got contracts from the US government.
