From Russia with Love. The arrival of nearly 10,000 Indian workers, who queued up at an employment registration centre in Moscow last week, could well herald an unprecedented new economic 'cooperation' between the two countries.
The littlest known facet of the 16 agreements inked between India and Russia during the December 2025 New Delhi visit of President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi – but also perhaps its most significant — was the Labour Mobility Agreement, which establishes a legal framework for systematic recruitment of skilled Indian workers - IT, construction, healthcare - to address Russia's gigantic labour shortages, "ensuring safe migration, skill recognition, and smoother processes for jobs in high-demand sectors, boosting bilateral ties and Indian employment.’’
In reality, India has offered an economic – and possibly even a defence lifeline to Russia, which is facing a severe and deepening labour shortage crisis, driven by demographics (aging, low birth rates) and exacerbated by the Ukraine war, leading to mass mobilization, skilled worker emigration (brain drain), and reduced labour migration, creating huge gaps in sectors from construction and manufacturing to IT, forcing higher wages and a push to recruit from India.
The central Asian media, with strong connections to Russia, has already taken note. News.az, a news portal from Baku, Azerbaijan, in an article headlined How India is replacing Central Asian migrants in Russia, reported: “Preliminary figures for the first nine months of 2025 show more than 27,000 work-related entries, suggesting that total arrivals could exceed 35,000 by the end of the year if current trends continue. Industry groups and regional authorities estimate that the total number of Indian workers currently present in Russia may already exceed 60,000, although precise figures vary depending on visa categories and registration status.”
Now with the Indo-Russian accord, a trend which was set into motion a couple of years ago, is pitched for greater volume. “The number of Indian nationals arriving in Russia for employment has risen sharply since 2023, according to official data and industry estimates. That year, approximately 10,000 Indian citizens entered Russia for work-related purposes — a fourfold increase compared with the previous year. In 2024, arrivals climbed further to nearly 26,000,” said News.az.
According to one official, Indian migrants are being recruited across construction, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics and services. While many are employed in physically demanding or low-skilled roles, employers have also shown interest in Indian technicians, machine operators and industrial workers, citing reliability and workforce availability.
Language barriers and certification requirements remain challenges, but recruiters believe they can be overcome.
For Indian workers, Russia offers wages that often exceed earnings available for similar work at home, alongside relatively accessible recruitment channels compared with some traditional destinations. For Russia, the inflow reflects a pragmatic response to labour shortages at a time when access to established migration pools has become less predictable.
In addition, Russia offers competitive incentives and regulated hours, attracting Indian workers who traditionally sought jobs in the Gulf.
Officials say that this initiative supports Russia's broader target of $100 billion trade with India by 2030, integrating Indian talent into its growing economy.
The more critical point is whether the Indians present in Russia will also be recruited into the Russian Army, which has waged a four-year war with Ukraine. Last week, MoS External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, told the Rajya Sabha that "202 Indian nationals are believed to have been recruited into the Russian armed forces. Concerted efforts by the Government have resulted in early discharge of 119 of them; 26 are reported to have lost their lives and 07 are reported missing by the Russian side."
He said that efforts are ongoing for the early discharge of 50 individuals and that the Indian government “remains continuously engaged with the Russian side to ensure the safety, well-being, and early discharge of all Indian nationals in the Russian armed forces. This matter is discussed at various levels, including during interactions between leaders, ministers, and officials of the two sides.”
This week, British online newspaper, The Independent, reported that two Indian men who had travelled to Russia on student visas were killed after being forcibly recruited to fight in the Ukraine war, their families had alleged.
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 Independent said.
On separate student visas to Russia, the two alleged that they had agreed to what they believed were non-combat civilian roles as cleaners and helpers, only to later discover they had been enlisted into the Russian military and deployed to the front lines in Ukraine. The two were likely looking for part-time jobs on their student visa.
Russia’s four-year war in Ukraine has seen thousands of foreigners including those from Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, and Cuba, recruited to fight on Moscow’s side. Many of them have claimed they were forced or duped into the fighting.
Indian experts like Amarjiva Lochan, an ex-dean at Delhi University and an analyst of migration and diaspora movements, however, believe that such fears are misplaced. The Russians are keener on Myanmar, "where 5.3 million people, out of a total population of 55 million, are already working abroad.’’
He makes light of the view that Indian labour could be recruited for the Russian war effort. "The Indians are not trained, and Russia is not going to spend money on them. Instead, they would rather depend on the Myanmar Junta and the well-trained Karen fighters on the Thai-Myanmar border,” explains Lochan, who goes on to say that Russia is currently in the throes of the lowest ever unemployment, 2.7%, in the last 50 years, and is under no economic compulsion whatsoever.
One thing is for sure though: if Indians begin to throng Russia, as they well might, it could open up yet another vista for migrants, a tradition that their forebears have followed since the millenniums.