India went into overdrive overnight to try and evacuate thousands of its citizens, mostly students from cities in Ukraine. It also sent officials to frontline borders of the war-locked country to carve out a safe passage as desperation grew at home.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a telephone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin sought “an immediate cessation of violence” as he voiced his deeper concerns.
“The prime minister also sensitised the Russian president about Indian citizens in Ukraine, especially students, and conveyed that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return to India,” Modi’s office added.
Prime Minister Modi also sensitised the Russian President Putin about India's concerns regarding the safety of the Indian citizens in Ukraine, especially students, and conveyed that India attaches the highest priority to their safe exit and return to India: PMO
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2022
His government was in touch with Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary to assist Indians leaving Ukraine and had manned border centres with Russian-speaking officials, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.
“We are advising that if you find yourself in a difficult situation then you should remain in secure areas...If you can move then move westwards towards the borders,” he said as callers flooded monitoring centres in Delhi.
Some 4,000 of an estimated 20,000 Indians in Ukraine returned home before its airspace was shut to civilian flights on Thursday, Shringla told a late night news conference.
Indian hotspot
India also persuaded Ukrainian universities to go online to help out home-bound students, the country’s top diplomat added.
Indian students numbering 18,000 account for almost a quarter of all foreign students in Ukraine. A majority of them are enrolled in medical schools which charge less than half the fees collected by privately-run colleges back home.
Harsh, who used one name, said he was holed up with 800 other students in Ivano-Frankivsk where he was enrolled in the National Medical University.
“We comfort each other, we share our resources and we hide in the bunkers,” he told Indian TV from the western Ukrainian city.
#BREAKING: India writes to President of Ukraine informing about 15,000 Indian students being stranded in various regions of Ukraine. India asks for their safety and security be ensured. Food and water needs to be provided to them. #RussiaUkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/lW9uieu4GA
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) February 24, 2022
Ukrainian colleges are recognised by the World Health Council and their degrees are valid in India. Students also find the quality of education at these centres superior to the curriculum offered by local institutions.
The southern state of Kerala accounting for 2,300 students in Ukrainian universities in a Thursday night SOS sought help from the federal government.
Most Indian students stayed back as travel from Ukraine is expensive and air fare almost doubled in the run-up to the Russian invasion.
Air-lift saga
Sources said the military was also on stand-by to join any evacuation by transport aircraft it deployed to rescue Indians from Kabul during the disorderly American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan last August.
Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, a former Indian foreign secretary, said evacuations can get tangled in red tape.
“Even the government, which has a huge depth of experience in airlifting Indians from difficult areas or warzones would require some time because it would require coordination with different governments for sending aircraft and seeking permission for over flights,” he said.
“These things cannot be done at a drop of a hat,” the diplomat warned.
India air-lifted 170,000 stranded workers from Kuwait after Iraq invaded the Sheikhdom in 1990 and three decades later it evacuated thousands more from several countries at the peak of the pandemic.
Russia with love...
Observers say Delhi was unlikely to face much trouble in evacuating its citizens from Ukraine because of its time-tested ties with Russia, which also account for a bulk of India’s military hardware.
And, on cue, Russia said it hoped ties with India would be unhindered despite the Western sanctions it faced after attacking Ukraine.
“We have big plans and we hope that our partnership will continue further at the same level we are enjoying today,” said Roman Babushkin, Russia’s charge-d’affaires in Delhi.
“The crisis will not impact India-Russia ties even in areas of defence,” Babushkin added.
The absence of an outright condemnation by India of Russia’s aggression has left Washington seemingly nonplussed.
India's characteristically muted response to Russian aggression faces bigger tests today than 2014 b/c (1) larger scale of current aggression (2) better relations w/US, other Quad partners-hence more pressure to change course. Modi urging Putin to ease violence=tiny step forward
— Michael Kugelman (@MichaelKugelman) February 25, 2022
‘We are in consultation (with India) today... we haven’t resolved that yet,” US President Joe Biden said at a White House news conference.
