Russian President Vladimir Putin praised steps Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking to ensure peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Putin told Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar that he discussed the ongoing 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war with PM Modi on several occasions and said he will delve deeper into the Ukraine issue when both leaders meet in-person once again.
“Many times, I advised him of how things have been going there and I know that he (PM Modi) is willing to do his utmost so that the issue is resolved by peaceful means. So, we probably will delve into that deeper now, and we will give additional information to you at that time,” Putin was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
India’s role in the Ukraine war has been consistent despite having to engage in a tightrope act in order maintain close ties with allies Russia and the United States.
The US has pressured all of its allies into criticizing and sanctioning Russia. While it may seem beneficial for Western European nations that fear Putin may expand the war, it is not as advantageous for Japan and South Korea. Due to being in Asia, they have strong trade as well as cultural ties with Russia.
The US also tried to pressure India by asking it to choose Washington over Moscow for its energy and defence needs but New Delhi held firm and gave equal priority to both President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
India, along with many nations in West Asia, South Asia, Africa and Latin America, have chosen to not pick sides and urged both parties to settle for a political resolution.
India has also kept channels of communication open and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky several times since the onset of the conflict in February 2022.
He dialed both leaders and urged them to give diplomacy a chance. India abstained from several resolutions condemning Russia at the UN but kept sending humanitarian aid to Kyiv to help those impacted by the war. India also raised its voice whenever cases of human rights issues were raised and backed the independent probe into the Bucha massacre.
PM Modi conveyed his sentiments strongly when he met Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in 2022 and told him that it is “not an era of war” but of cooperation and dialogue.
He also lent an ear to Volodymyr Zelensky when he met the Ukrainian President in Hiroshima earlier this year in May and assured him that India will do whatever it is able to in order to seek for a peaceful resolution. “You know the suffering of war better than all of us. When our children returned from Ukraine last year and narrated the circumstances there, I could understand the anguish of your citizens very well. I assure you that India, and I personally, would definitely do whatever is in our capacity to resolve this situation,” PM Modi told Zelensky.
India’s position on the Russia-Ukraine issue also reflects its foreign policy which does not involve public shaming of nations in international forum, instead it involves directing parties engaged in a conflict to focus on what they have in common rather than what divides them.
This sentiment was reflected during the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Indonesia as well as in New Delhi where PM Modi, while hosting world leaders for the first ever G20 Summit in India, said: “The G20 has the capacity to build consensus and deliver concrete results. We should not allow issues that we cannot resolve together to come in the way of those we can”.
“As you meet in the land of Gandhi and the Buddha, I pray that you will draw inspiration from India’s civilizational ethos — to focus not on what divides us, but on what unites us,” he had said.
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