NEW DELHI — The death of an Indian man working for the Russian army in Ukraine has brought renewed focus to the Kremlin’s use of foreign nationals on the front lines — from North Koreans to Cubans — and revived a thorny issue in the otherwise thriving relationship between New Delhi and Moscow.

Nearly 100 Indians have been lured to Russia by offers of jobs or education, only to find themselves forced into service by the army, according to Indian government statements and interviews with families of men sent to fight in Ukraine. This month, Binil Babu, a 32-year-old electrician from the southern state of Kerala, became at least the 10th Indian to die in the war, drawing a sharp response from officials here.

“The matter has been strongly taken up with the Russian authorities in Moscow as well as with the Russian Embassy in New Delhi today,” a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement Tuesday. “We have also reiterated our demand for the early discharge of the remaining Indian nationals.”

Moscow has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has promised to release Indians from its armed forces. “The Russian Government has at no point of time been engaged in any public or obscure campaigns, more so in fraudulent schemes to recruit the Indian nationals for military service in Russia,” the Russian Embassy in New Delhi said in an Aug. 10 statement.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in July that he would not comment on this topic “in any way,” and there have been no other official Russian statements about it, though Russian media reported that it was discussed in meetings between the countries’ leaders.

Despite the close coordination between the two governments, Indian recruits like Babu are unable to escape the fighting, reportedly because the Russian military is unwilling to let them go. The allegedly fraudulent recruitment has emerged over the past year as a recurring point of tension between India and Russia, even as the two countries have expanded their economic and military ties.

“It is very painful to see innocent Indians still getting caught up in the conflict there,” said Ashwin Mangukiya, whose 23-year-old son, Hemil, was the first Indian to be killed in the war last year. “The Indian government has failed to stop this by arresting the agents who take advantage of people’s ignorance to lure them into dangerous jobs.”

Families say most of the unwitting recruits were duped by an international network of employment agents and social media influencers, who promised them high wages for low-skilled jobs such as driving, cooking, plumbing and electrical repairs.

Two Indian men reached by phone in Ukraine last year told The Washington Post that upon arriving in the war zone, they were made to sign Russian documents they could not read and their passports were confiscated. They said they were later forced to fight alongside Russian soldiers with very little military training.

After several Indian citizens were killed on the front lines last year, Indian officials took up the issue with their Russian counterparts and secured the release of dozens of men pressed into military service. In a July meeting with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanded the early release of those who had been “misled.”

Yet some remain entangled in the conflict. Last month, responding to a question in Parliament, an Indian government official confirmed that 19 Indian citizens were still serving in the Russian army.

The lingering issue has been a rare sore spot in a relationship that has grown considerably in recent years. Trade between India and Russia has increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, helping to blunt the impact of Western sanctions on Moscow. India is now the second-largest importer of Russian crude oil, after China, with purchases amounting to $46 billion in the last fiscal year, according to statistics released by India’s Commerce Ministry.

Before his death, Babu had been pleading for months with the Indian Embassy in Moscow to secure his release from the Russian army, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

His brother-in-law, Saneesh Scaria, told The Post by telephone from Kerala that “the Indian Embassy in Moscow asked Binil to tell his commander that Prime Minister Modi had canceled all their agreements. But the commander told him he could only go after their one-year contract was complete.”

Nearly a year ago, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation launched a human-trafficking probe against at least 19 individuals and private companies accused of luring workers to Russia, according to the official complaint.

In addition to preying on those seeking employment, agents targeted Indian students “for admission in dubious private universities in Russia,” investigators said in their complaint.

Four arrests were made in May, on charges of fraud, human trafficking and criminal conspiracy, but the suspects have since been released on bail, and there has been no reported movement in the case since.

“We have lost what was written in our fate,” said the father of Hemil Mangukiya, who was recruited for a support role but then was killed on the battlefield. “The government must do something.”