Hyderabad, Oct. 7 -- Russian citizenship and one-year service contracts with Russia's defence ministry signed by three men from erstwhile Nizamabad district could stand in the way of efforts to bring them home.

The three men - 44-year-old Sirshu Ashok, 41-year-old Megavath Prakash and 43-year-old Mohammed Afzal Khan - went to Russia early this year for what their families said were civilian jobs. They later ended up linked to the Russian military.

According to a report in The Times of India, travel records, citizenship papers and service agreements show that at least two of the men became Russian citizens within months of arriving and signed one-year contracts with the defence ministry. Ashok and Prakash also signed notarised declaratio...