Indian students who had to leave studies midway as they fled the Russia-Ukraine conflict will be offered admission in Russian universities without them losing out on their previous academic years, Roman Babushkin, Deputy Chief of Mission of Russian Embassy in New Delhi, said here on Sunday.

Babushkin said the students would be admitted to Russian universities where they can continue with their respective courses from where they were left off without losing out on the previous years of study.

The statement came in response to queries by reporters on the fate of the over 20,000 students who fled Ukraine after Russia invaded that country in February this year.

Ratheesh C Nair, the Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation and Director of the Russian House in Thiruvananthapuram, said in cases wherein the students held scholarships, it was possible that the same would be accepted in Russian varsities.

However, the fees being paid in Ukraine might not suffice in Russia, he hinted.

He said the students in Kerala can get in touch with the Russian House here with their marksheets and other academic records and the same would be forwarded to the Russian varsities which would get in touch with the students and their parents.

On the conflict in Ukraine, Babushkin alleged that the regime there was protecting neo-Nazis and that the war was a result of crossing of a “Lakshman Rekha” of Russia.

“It was a ‘lakshman rekha’ for Russia, a red line of red lines which was crossed by the West,” he said. He alleged that also, western nations like the USA do not want the war to end in Ukraine as defence companies from there were benefiting from the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

He further alleged that while the USA has invested billions in setting up and supporting the regime in Ukraine, Russia never believed in such things and left it to the people to decide who should govern them.

He claimed that neither Russia nor its war with Ukraine can be blamed for the food crisis in the world as the latter’s contribution of wheat in the global market was barely one per cent.