Russia open for Indian medical students who left Ukraine: Envoy

Thousands of Indian medical students were left stranded in war-torn Ukraine as Russia launched a full-scale war on its neighbour on February 24. Following this, the Indian government carried out ‘operation Ganga’ to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion.

For the first time in nearly nine months of the war, Russia on Thursday said that Indian students who had to flee Ukraine due to war can continue the remainder of their education in Russia if they wish to - as the medical syllabus in both the countries is the same.

Russian Consul General Oleg Avdeev.

"Indian students who left Ukraine can continue their education in Russia as the medical syllabus is almost the same (as Ukraine). They know the language of the people, as, in Ukraine, most of them speak Russian. They're most welcome in Russia," Russian Consul General Oleg Avdeev was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Thousands of Indian medical students were left stranded in war-torn Ukraine as Russia launched a full-scale war on its neighbour on February 24. Following this, the Indian government carried out ‘operation Ganga’ to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine amidst the Russian invasion.

Avdeev’s comments come as foreign affairs minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and held talks in Moscow covering a range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interests. "India's relationship with Russia has worked to its advantage and New Delhi would like to keep that going," EAM Jaishankar had said on his visit to Moscow.

India has consistently called for an end to the fighting in Ukraine and pushed for dialogue. It has also repeatedly raised the impact of the Ukraine crisis on food and energy prices, especially for vulnerable countries. However, the Indian side has not voted against Russia at the UN and has so far refrained from publicly censuring Putin for the invasion launched in February.

With inputs from ANI