‘Only India has managed to bring its citizens home from Russian front’: Maria Tomak

Interview/ Maria Tomak, Ukrainian human rights activist

Maria Tomak is a Ukrainian human rights activist, journalist and researcher whose work has been documenting the human impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. She began her career as deputy editor of the leading daily Den, before joining the Euromaidan SOS initiative during the 2013–2014 revolution. Since then, she has investigated human rights violations in occupied Crimea and eastern Ukraine, coordinated international advocacy campaigns for political prisoners and co-founded the NGO Media Initiative for Human Rights. In an exclusive interview, she spoke about documenting atrocities and defending human dignity. Excerpts:

When did human rights become a passion for most civil society groups in Ukraine?

The focus on human rights really began in 2014, after the first attacks on Ukraine by Russia and the occupation of Crimea, followed by the invasion of Donbas. After the full-scale invasion in 2022, there was a significant shift. Many organisations that had previously worked in other areas, such as election monitoring, became active in human rights work.

The geography of these activities also changed, expanding from Donbas and Crimea to the whole of Ukraine. Activists began collecting evidence of mass graves and murders in areas around Kyiv, such as Bucha and Borodyanka, as well as near the Azov Sea coastal city of Mariupol. This evidence has enabled NGOs to submit complaints to the International Criminal Court.

However, we are facing two serious challenges: first, the problem of financing due to shortages and the reduction of US-funded programmes; and second, the issue of institutional credibility. We see countries failing to arrest individuals even after international warrants have been issued.

You are involved in documenting how Russia lures foreign citizens under false promises of employment and then recruits them into the army.

I am working with the NGO Truth Hounds on these issues. Initially, we believed that the most vulnerable were citizens of Central Asian countries, but we have also found people from Nepal, India and Sri Lanka among those recruited. These actions by Russia bear all the hallmarks of human trafficking: deception, coercion, confiscation of documents and the use of these people as cannon fodder.

These activities are not the result of official cooperation between Russia and the countries concerned (except the case with North Korea), but are fully operated by criminal networks through fake employment or visa agencies. The root causes of this recruitment are both poverty and the lack of accurate information about the nature of the Russian state and the real living conditions there.

Another key factor is the false perception of this war. It is not a “special military operation”, but a full-scale, brutal war with modern weapons, where thousands are killed. Around 80 per cent of the foreign nationals are captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during their first battle. They are not well-trained mercenaries like those in the Wagner Group. According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, captured combatants have included citizens of Egypt, Togo, Morocco, Cameroon, Guinea, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ghana and Cuba.

Under Ukrainian law, these people could be treated as mercenaries although they are treated as prisoners of war. On the other hand, they are also victims of human trafficking.

Except for North Korea, no country has a bilateral agreement with Russia to send soldiers or fighters. Even Chinese citizens captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces were acting as alleged volunteers. Russia signs individual contracts with these foreigners, making them part of the Russian army. Therefore, Ukraine must apply the Geneva Conventions and all relevant instruments of international humanitarian law. Their status is that of prisoners of war.

It is worth noting that several countries have anti-mercenary laws, so these individuals may face prosecution upon returning home. Another important point is that no other country’s leadership—except India’s—has successfully insisted on the return of its citizens. When Prime Minister Modi intervened, Russia complied. Repeated requests from Nepal, however, have been ignored by Moscow. Unfortunately, the Indian government recently announced that recruitment has resumed. We hope it will soon be stopped through India’s political influence.