New Delhi: Did India play a role in facilitating the peace talk between Russia and Ukraine this week?
Since August, India has engaged key players of the Russia-Ukraine war at the highest level.
Each day spent in war pushes back humanity, whereas every step taken toward peace fills humanity with new hope and enthusiasm.
Shortly after Jaishankar returned to New Delhi, a team of US diplomats landed in Moscow to take forward the talks to end the war.
Unlike Pakistan, which went around the world boasting that it is mediating the US-Iran peace talks, India seems to be working silently on the mission.
New Delhi: Did India play a role in facilitating the peace talk between Russia and Ukraine this week? While the Indian government remains tight-lipped, the sequence of events over the last month indicates that New Delhi may have facilitated the talks between Russia and Ukraine and likely paved the way for the United States to give a fresh push to end the ongoing war that began in February 2022. Since August, India has engaged key players of the Russia-Ukraine war at the highest level.
Let's rewind and connect the dots. On August 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a call from US vice-president J.D. Vance. On the surface of it, the call appeared to be a routine conversation between the two leaders. However, there were no pressing issues before the two sides at that time for the "out-of-the-blue" call.
The ministry of external affairs press statement said that the Prime Minister and US vice-president reviewed progress in the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership. The statement noted that the two leaders reviewed sustained momentum in the high-level engagements and reaffirmed commitment to further strengthening cooperation in trade, defence, critical and emerging technologies, energy security and critical minerals. “Mr Modi and Mr Vance also exchanged views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,” it added.
Thereafter, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar was in Moscow for inter-government commission meetings in the last week of August, during which he met Russian President Vladimir Putin. Then last week, Modi, during his meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, talked about ending the endless war, including the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We need to move from the state of endless war to the end of war... We have consistently discussed the issue of Ukraine… India supports all peace efforts and will continue to do so in the future as well. Each day spent in war pushes back humanity, whereas every step taken toward peace fills humanity with new hope and enthusiasm. We need to move from endless war to the end of war, which is a must for the wellbeing of humanity. A peaceful resolution to all issues at the earliest is the call of humanity, and this is India’s message…” Modi told Putin.
The Russian President reacted by saying: “Thank you very much, Prime Minister. We are moving forward along this path.”
Days later, Dr Jaishankar visited Ukraine before travelling to Poland, where he once again talked about ending the war. At a press conference in Warsaw after travelling from Kyiv, Jaishankar said India was in continuous touch with both Ukraine and Russia and is exploring ideas and suggestions that could help mitigate or end the conflict.
The foreign minister reiterated that India believes that endless war must give way to an end to war, as these have no winners and only lead to more deaths, destruction and global costs. He further said that efforts should focus on promoting dialogue and diplomacy and that India is committed to doing whatever it can to help bring the conflict to an end.
Shortly after Jaishankar returned to New Delhi, a team of US diplomats landed in Moscow to take forward the talks to end the war.
Unlike Pakistan, which went around the world boasting that it is mediating the US-Iran peace talks, India seems to be working silently on the mission. Sources in the government said that India has always made it clear that it will do whatever possible to help resolve issues and end wars.
Meanwhile, the US special envoys of President Donald Trump have returned to Washington. The “substantive plans” are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, they said, adding that another round of talks will be needed, the dates of which will be announced shortly.
