He is one of as many as 15,000 Nepali men to have joined the Russian military, multiple sources have told CNN, after the Russian government last year announced a lucrative package for foreign fighters to join the country's military.
The package included at least $2,000 salary a month and a fast-tracked process to obtain a Russian passport. Nepal's passport is ranked one of the worst in the world for global mobility, below North Korea, according to an
index created by global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners, and the Himalayan nation is among the world's poorest, with a per capita GDP of $1,336 for 2022, according to
World Bank data.