Kochi: India is exploring alternative ways to bring back about 18000 people back to the country even as air traffic has come to a stop in Ukraine due to military intervention by Russia to take control of Donetsk and Luhansk controlled by separatists supporting Russia.
The government had already started working on a plan since tension was mounting in the region, union minister V Muraleedharan told reporters in New Delhi.
He said there was no need to panic as India has managed meticulously in similar situations in the past.
India has advised its citizens to make use of bomb shelters mainly in underground metros.
Meanwhile, 182 students from Kerala are said to be studying in 13 universities in Ukraine with the majority of them doing medical studies.
Many of them were scared of losing classes due to which they had stayed back, media reports said.
It all started when then Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign a free trade agreement with the European Union in 2013 citing pressure from Russia prompting civilians against Viktor who fled to Russia.
Crimea was later annexed to Russia in 2014. Ukraine is an emotional issue for Russians who still curse Michael Gorbachev for disintegrating the erstwhile USSR in the early nineties.
Many people who were part of the old dispensation considered the communist ruled country best.
A hard core patriot, President Vladimir Putin is also in favour of regaining areas where people want to get united with their parent country Russia.
Putin who has won the hearts of the people by implementing a number of popular schemes is certain to improve his ratings if he emerges victorious in Ukraine. This would help him to re-establish his popularity before next election.
A country with a high rate of education, vast arable land, large gas infrastructure, huge metallurgical deposit, Ukraine is everyone’s desire.
Any change in its governance will hit NATO countries and supporters hard due to which they would not allow the status quo of Ukraine to change.
The NATO countries are also worried of Russia slipping back to the pre Gorbachev Era of the Soviet Union.
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