Bangladeshi students ‘safe’ in Ukraine’s Lugansk

Bangladeshi students in the trouble-hit Ukraine’s Lugansk City are “safe” and they are attending classes, the students’ leader and Dhaka’s Moscow mission say.

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,” Florida Francis, President of Bangladesh Students Association at the Lugansk State Medical University, told bdnews24.com by telephone.

She is a fifth-year student in the six-year course.

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.”

Earlier, the foreign ministry’s director (media) Nripendra Chandra Debnath told bdnews24.com that they had instructed the Moscow mission to look into the issue after receiving a call from a student in Ukraine.

However, Francis, the President of Bangladesh Students Association, without naming any, 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.

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.