New Delhi Brushes Aside Putin’s Hostage Claim, Calls For ‘Local Ceasefire’

New Delhi: For the second time in as many days, India trashed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim on Thursday that over 3,000 Indian citizens are being held hostage by the Ukrainian military at the Kharkiv train station in the eastern part of the country.

New Delhi countered Putin’s statement and clarified that there were no such reports. India called for a “local ceasefire” that could help get nearly 2000 stranded students in eastern Ukraine to buses waiting 40-60 km away.

“We issued a statement yesterday. I clarified it again…I’m not aware of any Indian being held hostage. I mean, unless you have some information that I don’t, they are having difficulty getting out because of the security situation in some places, particularly, I would say in Sumy and in Kharkiv town. But I haven’t heard anybody being held hostage,” Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi was quoted as saying in a statement on Friday.

Reacting to Putin’s claim, Bagchi said: “You should always ask the person who makes the statements. Why us?”

According to senior officials, Putin’s hostage statement is more war-rhetoric than reality. A top official in the security establishment said that almost all Indian students had active mobile phone connections and were in touch with their parents, Indian government representatives and the media.

“None of them described any situation of them being in captivity or being held hostage or being detained against their wishes. Yes, they may have said some Ukrainian authorities are uncooperative and we are trying our best to work on that,” the senior officials were quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

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