In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Indian students were left stranded. Many of them made distress videos from their universities in Ukraine, while several others criticised the government’s delayed or inadequate response after returning home.
This has given rise to a barrage of misinformation and propaganda on social media and mainstream media alike, attempting to shift the blame of the students’ predicament on the students themselves. Alt News debunked a video where a false quote was attributed to mock a student.
In another instance, a student was falsely accused of “pretending” to be in Ukraine.
Now, a video is viral that shows students mocking television news media’s coverage of events leading up to the invasion. While some students can be heard denying the possibility of a war, others can be heard saying that Russia has withdrawn some of its troops. This clip is being shared on social media to claim there were “enough warnings” issued by the government ahead of Russia’s assault on February 24, but the students did not take them seriously.
There were enough warnings before the war broke out but students did not take them seriously as you can see in video
What this Govt has done for their return is unprecedented. Modi has again proven his commitment to each of 135 Cr Indians.
It pains to see ppl being thankless💔 pic.twitter.com/zCA3nAna4B
— 𝚂𝚞𝚍𝚑𝚒𝚛🏌️♂️🇮🇳 (@seriousfunnyguy) March 3, 2022
There were enough warnings before the war broke out but students did not take them seriously as you can see in video
pic.twitter.com/JXAG1A1I97— Saffron Soul 2.0 🚩 (@SaffronS0ul) March 3, 2022
Students who were making fun of the issued advisory from government & now sending SOS 🤦♀️ Inlogo ko airport par chaar jooten lagana chahiyehttps://t.co/Zq9vz3RYZv pic.twitter.com/HUq963n9gH
— Prisha (@MeetPrisha) March 3, 2022
The video has also been shared by multiple users on Facebook.
Misleading
We rummaged through the replies to tweets carrying the video and came across multiple links to the YouTube channel that had originally posted the video on February 16.
The complete video starts with a montage of different clips from Indian television news. In one clip, a news anchor says “only 1 hour and 23 minutes left” before the war begins. From the very beginning, the tone of the vlog is established – a light-hearted mockery of how dramatically events were presented by TV news. At 2:33 minutes the interviewer (Sourav) laughs saying Russia is going to invade in 1 hour 20 minutes.
This bit from the complete video is being shared to portray that the students did not take the threat of a Russian invasion seriously despite the Indian government issuing “enough warnings”.
Before this video was uploaded on YouTube, the Indian Embassy had issued one advisory. This can hardly be classified as “enough warnings”. Moreover, the advisory did not urge Indian nationals to immediately leave Ukraine while commercial options are available but said those whose stay is “non-essential may consider” leaving on a temporary basis.
ADVISORY FOR INDIAN NATIONALS IN UKRAINE.@MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar @PIB_India @DDNewslive @IndiainUkraine @IndianDiplomacy @OIA_MEA pic.twitter.com/huitNLnSS3
— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) February 15, 2022
Furthermore, at 2:10 minutes in the vlog, a student says that Russia has pulled back some of its troops. This is correct. On February 15, Russia indeed said that it is pulling back some of its troops from the Ukrainian border. The news was reported by multiple media outlets.
In a rapidly changing situation, with updates being reported every few hours, it would be dishonest to conclude that these students did not care for their own safety on the basis of a video that was recorded at least eight days before the invasion.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine had also asked the students to “not panic” and maintained this stance until February 20.
On February 16, the Embassy issued an FAQ for students where it asked them to not panic. The first question on the FAQ was regarding overbooked flights.
It is important to note that there was only one direct flight to Delhi and the rest were connecting flights.
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