Bangladeshi students studying in the Lugansk State Medical University in Ukraine are ‘safe’ and the existing situation there is not affecting anyway their personal and educational life, said a foreign office press release, quoting the president of Bangladeshi Students Association of the university and the Bangladesh Embassy in Moscow on Tuesday.
The Director (Media) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nripendra Chandra Debnath, told The New Nation yesterday that following a request from a Bangladeshi student studying in that university
seeking help for repatriation on Monday, the Ministry had instructed Bangladesh Embassy in Moscow to contact the students in Ukraine to know their wellbeing.
Accordingly, he said, the Embassy contacted Ms. Florinda Francis, a fifth year Bangladeshi medical student of the university, who is also the President of Bangladeshi Students Association there.
Ms. Francis informed that the existing situation in Lugansk was peaceful and it was not affecting the students’ personal and educational life. She also informed that there are foreign students from 63 countries in the university and they are continuing their studies.
She, however, said that the request for help was unnecessary and was intended to create panic.
Bangladesh Embassy in Moscow also contacted Mr. Bolgov Dmitry Michailovich, Dean of Foreign Students of the University and requested him to provide all possible help and cooperation to the Bangladeshi students. The Dean assured the Embassy that the University would render all support to Bangladeshi students, if needed.
Bangladesh Embassy in Moscow is also in touch with the students as well as the university authorities and is ready to extend all assistance to our students in lugansk State Medical University as and when required, said the foreign office release.
Bdnews24.com adds: Rumours ran high in Dhaka that some Bangladeshi students were stranded in the city and trying to find a safe exit. There is no Bangladesh mission in Ukraine. The Moscow mission oversees the eastern European country.
“We are safe. We did not face any problem,” said Florida Francis, President of Bangladesh Students Association at the Lugansk State Medical University.
Francis identified herself as the official representative of the 24 Bangladeshi students studying at the university.
The Bangladesh embassy in Russia also confirmed that she was officially representing Bangladeshi students there.
The embassy’s Counsellor (education) Andrio Drong told bdnews24.com that the rumours were “confusing”. He said they did not find any students in trouble.
“We tried to identify after the news spread in Dhaka,” he said. “Students attended classes even on Monday. We are in constant touch.”However, Francis, without naming any student, said a student created panic by calling newspapers in Dhaka and even the foreign ministry. “Basically he is not an official representative,” she said, “He was just trying to get attention.”
Francis also binned media reports that Indian students were fleeing the campus. However, she said some students were leaving due to a month-long vacation.
“My vacation will start from Sep 20 and I’ll come to Dhaka then,” she said and added that the university authorities were also cooperating with the students if any of them wanted to take extra leave due to the violent political situation. Ukraine turned violent following President Viktor Yanukovich’s abandonment of a trade agreement with the EU on Nov 21 last year, seeking closer ties with Moscow.
Pro-EU anti-government protesters took to the street that forced Yanukovich to flee his Presidential palace.
Crimea administration joined Russia after a referendum that the US and the EU declared illegitimate.
