The relevant agreements were reached by the Prime Minister of the Republic Narendra ModiNEW DELHI, May 15.
/tass/. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year was able to agree on the suspension of hostilities in Ukraine in order to evacuate Indian students from this country. This, as The Hindu newspaper writes on Monday, was stated by Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
"Prime Minister Modi spoke with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and with (Ukrainian President Vladimir) Zelensky. He also spoke with (US President Joe) Biden when necessary. The war stopped for a while, and Indian students in Ukraine were able to return home," Singh said.
According to the head of the Indian military department, then "Prime Minister Modi did what no other country could do."
India began exporting citizens from neighboring countries with Ukraine at the end of February last year, the evacuation operation was called "Ganges". Initially, flights were organized only by civilian airlines, then military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force joined the operation. More than 17 thousand people, mostly students, were brought home. Citizens of some other South Asian States were also taken out. In total, there were about 20 thousand Indians in Ukraine.
In September 2022, at a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Modi thanked Putin for helping to evacuate Indian students from Ukraine. He then noted that "Moscow and New Delhi have remained together for decades."