News
Families fear that their loved ones who went to Russia as mercenaries will become a forgotten chapter
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
At least 120 Sri Lankan ex-military who left for Russia as mercenaries in 2024 have not communicated with their families for many months, while 60 are now “missing” for well over one year.
Having borrowed heavily to send their menfolk to Russia, their households are heavily indebted. Their wives no longer receive their husbands’ pensions as there is no proof of life. And without death certificates, let alone remains, they also cannot apply for widow benefits.
Among the missing is 48-year-old Premasiri Abeykoon, a father-of-three from Bandarawela, who last phoned home on March 13, 2024. As a member of the 2nd Commando Regiment, he was part of late Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s personal security and was at his poolside in August 2005, where, after a swim, an LTTE sniper assassinated him.
When the families of ex military met last year
Premasiri retired from the forces in 2018 after 22 years and was working for a private security firm when he learned through friends (also ex-Commandos) that some “middlemen” named Sarath and Bandula were brokering jobs in Russia for former Sri Lankan soldiers.
“They would call my husband many times a day, encouraging him to take the opportunity,” said Lakshika Tharangani, his 45-year-old spouse. “And they sent us many videos of other Sri Lankan ex-forces in Russia who seemed to be doing well— eating, drinking and earning good salaries. We were promised Russian citizenship, eventually.”
Premasiri had anticipated a non-combat role within territory captured from Ukraine for a monthly salary of over one million rupees. The couple mortgaged property and pawned gold jewellery, including what belonged to Lakshika’s mother and sister. The brokers took Rs. 1.2mn upfront.
The night before his departure in February last year, Premasiri’s three children climbed into bed with him. The middle one, a son, asked him to reconsider the trip. But, pushing a new suitcase packed with new jerseys, trousers and shirts, he left. With him were six other former soldiers, all with tourist visas to Russia.
“On the way to the airport, we deposited another Rs. 500,000 to their account, to ensure he goes through the Moscow airport without problems,” Lakshika said. For the first few weeks, the group stayed in a hotel. Premasiri was even given a chocolate cake for his birthday on February 18 and video-called his family to show them the celebration.
“Cake here is tastier than in Sri Lanka,” he told his daughter, their youngest. “I will bring one when I come home.”
On March 13, 2024, Premasiri telephoned home and said he was getting on bus to be taken for training. “He won’t be able to call for ten days, he said, and that they might take his phone,” Lakshika recalled. “We haven’t heard from him since.”
The family also hasn’t received any money since Premasiri, the sole breadwinner, went to Russia. “On that last day, he said he got Rs. 900,000 but that he had no way of transferring it to me,” his wife related. Now she is saddled with debt—Rs. 80,000 for the land loan, not counting pawnshop instalments. Her oldest boy, now 19, has joined the army. Her other son is 16 and the youngest is just 11.
Forty-five-year-old S. W. Jayathilaka, himself a former soldier, heads an association of families of Sri Lankan mercenaries in Russia. His older brother, too, hasn’t called home in one year and three months. His immediate concern, he says, is to try and get the pensions restored.
Last month, Jayathilaka even met Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, who assured him she would notify the relevant institutions and respond to the association with solutions. “Nothing yet,” he told The Sunday Times yesterday.
One challenge for the government might be that some Sri Lankan mercenaries are receiving the promised salaries and have even remitted chunks to their families. Some who sustained injuries were paid compensation, others were not. And some are not unhappy with their work, even as others are not to be traced, dead or alive. Still more are in Moscow after the expiry of their one-year agreements, waiting to be sent home. Some have paid money to be smuggled back home via back channels. There is little or no uniformity—except in the large sums changing hands.
Meanwhile, at least ten suspects were arrested in relation to this “racket” and were brought before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court last year. The last hearing, which The Sunday Times attended, was in October 2024. The suspects are out on bail and the next date is in July. The families gathered there told us they cannot afford to attend again. They expressed distress at the delay in the case.
Premasiri’s mother-in-law was in court. As the suspects filed out, she inched up to one of them and pinched him hard on the arm. “Find my son,” she barked, gritting her teeth. Her eyes were teary.
It is hardest for the families who have no contact with their menfolk, Jayathilaka said. “There is just no closure,” he said. “They cannot conduct a religious ceremony to honour their passing. They have to be missing, dead or captured. If they are dead, issue the death certificates. The families need to know.”
The Sri Lankan government has said they have information on 59 deaths. In the case of about 25, DNA samples have been sent by families to confirm identity, Jayathilaka reported. But there have been no updates—no letters to say there’s been a match.
And sometimes things happen that keep the dream alive. “Two girls called me recently from Moneragala,” Jayathilaka narrated. “Each of their fathers had gotten in touch after seven months. I was so happy for them. Budu saranai, I told them.”
Back in Bandarawela, Premasiri’s three children think—hope—their father will still come home. “My fear is people are forgetting all this,” Lakshika said. “Those who are alive will come back. What happens with those who are not?”
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