A young Bangladeshi man lies in a Moscow hospital bed in pain, his body covered in wounds. He has undergone three abdominal surgeries and faces a fourth on his hip.
Three months ago, Adnan, a Narayanganj native, left Bangladesh believing a construction job in Russia would secure a better life for his family. On paper, his departure on May 7 was entirely legal, cleared by the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) on a valid work visa.
That expectation collapsed upon arrival. Handlers transferred him to a site 1,200 kilometres from Moscow, ostensibly to complete “company formalities”. There, he was handed documents written in Russian. Unable to speak the language and without a local SIM card or internet access to run translation software, Adnan signed without understanding a word.
Within a week, authorities dispatched him to a military camp. Reclassified as a recruit, he received basic training, was handed a weapon and sent straight to the frontline. Severely wounded in combat, he was evacuated to hospital, where he remains under treatment.
Accounts indicate that scores of Bangladeshi workers travelling to Russia for civilian jobs face deception much like Adnan did. In one recent cohort of 30 men, every individual was tricked into fighting despite departing with valid visas for construction and other non-military sectors.
BMET data show that 8,247 Bangladeshi labourers migrated to Russia between 2024 and June 2026. Annual departures surged from 1,395 in 2024 to a peak of 4,727 in 2025, before dropping to 2,125 in the first six months of 2026. BMET cleared a further 140 workers in July.
Five private recruiting agencies managed nearly half of those departures in the past three years. Banna Bijoy Overseas sent the highest number, dispatching 949 workers in 2024 and 1,459 in 2025.
Over the three-year period, Runway International sent 555, Noakhali Overseas 425, TS Overseas 266 and Flair Express sent 253 individuals. By contrast, the state-run Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd (BOESEL) sent only 426 workers, all of whom remain safe in their jobs.
Private agency recruits have suffered a very different fate. Recruiters allegedly tricked several thousand of these workers into combat, thrusting them onto the battlefield and triggering widespread alarm over the safety of the Russian labour market.
The government has revoked the licences of three recruiting agencies — RS International, Jabal E Noor and TS Overseas Limited — and seized their security deposits for allegedly luring workers to Russian battlefields with promises of high pay and benefits. On December 9, 2025, authorities also blocked server access for Banna Bijoy Overseas, the corridor’s largest recruiter, over fraud allegations.
“Jabal E Noor promised us construction work, but transferred us to a military camp within seven days of our arrival,” Adnan told Bonik Barta from his Moscow hospital bed.
“All 30 of us in the group were sent to war. They told us nothing and took our phones away. One man managed to alert his family about the rest of us. Many have since been killed or wounded at war.”
Bonik Barta has maintained regular contact via WhatsApp since May 2025 with Rasel Shikdar (pseudonym), speaking from a military base in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region of Ukraine. Banna Bijoy Overseas recruited Shikdar and five other Bangladeshis in November 2024 for jobs at a Chinese firm in Russia. They lost those positions after two months, whereupon brokers sold them to Russian forces as mercenaries.
Shikdar said he has completed a one-year combat contract, holds a Russian passport and joined a company. The four other men who arrived with him died in the war.
A representative of Ukraine’s “Prisoners of War” (POW) anonymously contacted Bonik Barta on WhatsApp with photographs of two Bangladeshi nationals, identified as Kamrul and Shovon. The men surrendered voluntarily to a Ukrainian unit without their passports, which handlers had confiscated before deploying them to the frontline. Both remain in Ukrainian military custody under international law. The official added that numerous other Bangladeshis are fighting for Russian forces across Ukraine.
Bangladesh’s embassy in Moscow is pursuing diplomatic routes to repatriate citizens involved in the war, according to the embassy’s first secretary (labour), Mohammad Mizanur Rahman.
“We have formally proposed that the Russian government add Bangladesh, like India, to the list of countries whose citizens are barred from military service,” the first secretary told Bonik Barta, adding that foreign ministry officials and Bangladesh’s ambassador had also raised the issue directly with Russia’s deputy defence minister.
Mizanur Rahman acknowledged that contracts signed in Russian complicate legal remedies, but stressed that diplomatic efforts to secure their return remain ongoing.
In a written response to Bonik Barta regarding civilian workers drawn into combat, the Russian embassy in Dhaka stated: “All the contracts to serve in the special military operation zone are signed with the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation on a voluntary basis. The applicants are provided with extensive information on the conditions of the military service.”
The statement added: “Recently, the Russian Embassy has come across a growing number of allegations circulated by Bangladeshi media that some people become victims of fraud from the part of recruiting agencies. The Russian side considers that this problem falls within the authority of Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies, as it is their direct obligation to prevent and combat crime in the country.”
Regarding compliance with labour laws and visa terms, the embassy stated: “Every employment visa is issued for a specific company. Before going to Russia, Bangladeshis have to sign a notary document, which states that they are not allowed to join the army and change their workplace without receiving permission from their employer and notifying the Embassy of Bangladesh in Moscow. In case a foreign migrant wants to work for another Russian company, he or she has to return to Bangladesh, and apply for employment visa once again with a new invitation.”
The crisis underscores systemic vulnerabilities in pre-departure protections, recruitment transparency and overseas oversight. Md Nurul Haque, state minister for expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, told Bonik Barta that embassies in high-risk destinations must now conduct physical workplace verifications before clearing further deployments.
“We are identifying and acting against fraudulent operators, but closing an entire labour market over isolated irregularities is not the solution,” the state minister said. “Where legitimate opportunities exist, our focus is ensuring workers travel safely through official channels.”