Russia and Ukraine will have to resolve their conflict by negotiating off the battlefield and India is willing to advise them, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.
Mr Jaishakar’s remarks came at a time when National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is in Moscow for a crucial meeting of NSAs. Sources have said that Mr Doval is carrying a peace plan proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which he will share with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Whether or not Russia and Ukraine accept India’s proposal is not known yet, but India has offered to help end the conflict. During his visit to Ukraine, PM Modi told President Volodymyr Zelensky that India is ever ready to play an “active role” in every effort to restore peace and he would like to contribute personally in ending the conflict.
PM Modi is perhaps one of the very few leaders who shares friendly ties with both Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky and was warmly welcomed by both leaders during his recent visits to both nations.
The foreign minister was speaking at the Annual Ambassadors’ Conference of the German Foreign Office in Berlin, a day after he held a “useful conversation” with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at the margins of the India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers’ meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“We don’t think this conflict is going to be resolved on the battlefield. At some stage, there’s going to be some negotiation. When there is a negotiation, the main parties – Russia and Ukraine – have to be at that negotiation,” Mr Jaishankar said.
He cited Prime Minister Modi’s visits to Russia and Ukraine and how the Indian leader had once told the Russian President that this was not “an era of war”.
“We don’t think you’re going to get a solution out of the battlefield. If you want advice, we are always willing to give it,” Mr Jaishankar added.
The minister also spoke about Quad, which he said has been a successful experiment. Quad is a strategic security dialogue between India, United States, Australia and Japan.
“We have revived the Quad. It is a major diplomatic platform and India is committed to it,” he said.
Notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that India is among the three countries he is constantly in touch over the Ukraine conflict and said they are sincerely making efforts to resolve it.
“If there is a desire of Ukraine to carry on with the negotiations, I can do that.” Mr Putin’s remarks came within two weeks after Prime Minister Modi’s historic visit to Ukraine, where he held talks with President President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We respect our friends and partners, who, I believe, sincerely seek to resolve all issues surrounding this conflict, primarily China, Brazil and India. I constantly keep in touch with our colleagues on this issue,” Mr Putin was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency.
Last week, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told daily newspaper Izvestia that India could help in establishing a dialogue on Ukraine.
He spoke about the “highly constructive, even friendly relations” between PM Modi and President Putin and added the Indian leader can “lead the line on getting first-hand information from the participants in this conflict,” as he “freely communicates with Putin, Zelensky and the Americans.”
“This gives a great opportunity for India to throw its weight in world affairs, to use its influence that would drive the Americans and Ukrainians towards using a greater political will and entering the peaceful settlement track,” Mr Peskov said, adding that there are “no specific plans” for PM Modi to mediate on the issue.
PM Modi, on his visit to Ukraine last month, told President Volodymyr Zelensky that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an “active role” to restore peace in the region.
Mr Jaishankar also talked about India’s relations with China at the conference in Berlin, saying that India is not “closed to business from China”, but the issue is in which sectors the country does business with Beijing and on what terms.
