‘Part Of Our Culture’: Jaishankar On Modi-Putin Hug, Says PM Also Embraced Ukraine's Zelensky

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that embracing people as a form of greeting is a culture in ‘our part of the world’ while answering the media queries on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Ukraine.

Sections of the western media and Ukrainian news media outlets had expressed their displeasure with PM Modi embracing Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, on his visit to Moscow for the Russia-India bilateral summit earlier this year.

PM Modi’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow for the India-Russia annual summit had also left Ukraine and its western allies unimpressed with the gesture. Zelensky at the time was “disappointed to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow”.

The US reacted through envoy Eric Garcetti who said there is no such thing as strategic autonomy in times of conflict and said that the India-US ties should not be taken for granted.

“In our part of the world when people meet people they are given to embracing each other. It may not be part of your culture, it is part of our culture,” Jaishankar told a reporter when asked about PM Modi embracing the Ukrainian President during a visit to a memorial built to honour children killed in war.

Soon after reaching the Ukrainian capital here from Poland, Modi was greeted by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the multimedia Martyrologist Exposition on children at the National Museum of History of Ukraine here.

After a handshake, Modi gave a warm hug to Zelenskyy and as the two leaders walked towards the multimedia Exposition, slid a hand on his shoulder symbolising support for the leader of the war-torn nation.

After watching the multimedia presentations – that gave information about scores of children who died during the conflict – as part of the Exposition, Modi and Zelenskyy both stood silently in front of a wall-like structure which already had a lot of toys placed in memory of the children.

With folded hands, Modi offered a silent prayer before placing a small toy (a doll) at the memorial as the Ukrainian President placed a teddy bear.

“Today I think I saw PM Modi embracing Zelensky. I have seen him do it with a number of other leaders at a number of other places. I think we have cultural gaps here, in terms of what these curtsies mean,” he further added.