Russia is considering hiring as many as one million workers from India next year to offset acute labour shortages caused by mobilisation for the war in Ukraine and long-running demographic pressures, according to Andrei Besedin, head of the Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Besedin told regional media that agreements had been reached with Indian counterparts and that an Indian consulate would open in Yekaterinburg to process visas and provide support services. The incoming workers would be deployed mainly in construction, metallurgy and mechanical-engineering enterprises in the Sverdlovsk region and other industrial centres. The initiative underscores the depth of Russia’s workforce deficit. The Russian labour ministry has warned of a shortage of about 1.5 million skilled professionals by the end of 2024, a gap widened by military call-ups and declining domestic interest in factory jobs. Besedin added that Moscow is also looking at recruiting staff from Sri Lanka and North Korea. Neither the Kremlin nor New Delhi has formally confirmed the scale or timetable of the plan. If implemented, it would mark one of Russia’s largest labour-migration programmes outside the former Soviet sphere, reflecting the economic strains imposed by the conflict in Ukraine.