Russia and Ukraine must resolve their conflict through dialogue outside the battlefield and India is ready to advise them, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.
Jaishankar’s remarks come at a time when National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is in Moscow for a crucial NSA meeting. Sources have said that Doval has come up with a peace plan proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which he will share with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It is not yet known whether Russia and Ukraine accept India’s proposal, but India has offered to help end the conflict. During his visit to Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi told President Volodymyr Zelensky that India is always ready to play an “active role” in every effort to restore peace and that he would like to personally contribute to ending the conflict.
Prime Minister Modi is perhaps one of the few leaders who enjoys friendly relations with both Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky and was warmly received by both leaders during his recent visits to the two countries.
The External Affairs Minister was speaking at the German Foreign Office’s annual Ambassadors’ Conference in Berlin, a day after he held “useful talks” with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines 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 level, there has to be some negotiations. When there is a negotiation, the main parties – Russia and Ukraine – have to be involved in that negotiation,” 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 the “era of war”.
“We don’t think you will get any solution from the battlefield. If you want advice, we are always ready to give it,” Mr Jaishankar said.
The minister also talked about the Quad, which he described as a successful experiment. The Quad is a strategic security dialogue between India, the US, Australia and Japan.
He said, “We have revived the Quad. It is a key diplomatic forum and India is committed to it.”
It is noteworthy that Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that India is among the three countries with whom he is in constant touch regarding the Ukraine conflict and said that they are making sincere efforts to resolve the issue.
“If Ukraine wishes to continue the dialogue, I can do that.” Mr Putin’s remarks came less than two weeks after Prime Minister Modi’s historic visit to Ukraine, where he held talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We respect our friends and partners, who, I believe, sincerely want to resolve all issues related to this conflict, primarily China, Brazil and India. I am in constant touch with my partners on this issue,” Russian news agency TASS quoted Mr Putin as saying.
Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the daily newspaper Izvestia that India could help set up dialogue on Ukraine.
He spoke about the “highly constructive, even friendly relations” between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin and said that the Indian leader “can play a leading role in obtaining direct information from the participants in this conflict” as he “communicates freely with Putin, Zelensky and the Americans.”
“This gives India a great opportunity to exert its weight in world affairs, to use its influence to push the US and Ukraine to use more political will and move forward on the path of a peaceful settlement,” Mr Peskov said, adding that Prime Minister Modi has “no specific plans” to mediate on the issue.
During his visit to Ukraine last month, Prime Minister Modi had told President Volodymyr Zelensky that Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time and end the ongoing war and that India is ready to play an “active role” in restoring peace in the region.
Mr Jaishankar also spoke about India’s ties with China at the Berlin conference and said India has “not closed the doors to trade with China”, but the issue is in which sectors the country trades with Beijing and on what terms.
