Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said in a statement on its website that the issue of compensation to the families of the dead and injured was raised in talks in Moscow during a visit by a Sri Lankan delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Taraka Balasuriya.
Sri Lankan representatives met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko and Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. The talks focused on compensation for the families of the 17 dead and wounded in the war, the early cancellation of the contracts of those who have been drafted and the payment of wages. The number of injured was not mentioned in the statement by the Lankan foreign ministry.
In total, according to media reports, at least two thousand Sri Lankans are participating in the Russia-Ukraine war on each side.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not release details of the meeting. In his statement it is stated that during the meeting with Rudenko the sides discussed “topical issues of the Russian-Sri Lankan agenda”. Russian state media did not report on the meeting.
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that many Sri Lankans were tricked into going to war.
Late last year, Lankan authorities shut down an agency in the country that was recruiting civilians to fight on Ukraine’s side.