New Delhi:
Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Ukraine, India is well placed to play a peace negotiating role in the long-running Russia-Ukraine war, with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval due to visit Moscow this week and hold crucial talks in this regard.
Prime Minister Modi also paid an official visit to Russia in July and held detailed discussions with Russian President Putin.
India, with its independent foreign policy, is uniquely positioned to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. As Europe and its Western allies (NATO allies) find themselves mired in a stalemate with Russia backed by China, India, which has maintained friendly relations with most countries, would open a third axis in a largely bipolar world.
“We (India) are not neutral. We have taken sides since the beginning. And we have chosen the side of peace. We come from the land of Buddha where there is no room for war,” PM Modi said during his recent visit to Ukraine.
In his meeting with Zelensky, held under the shadow of conflict, Prime Minister Modi said India was ready to play an “active role” in any efforts to restore peace in Ukraine and wanted to personally contribute to ending the conflict.
Modi, who had already visited Russia, held a telephone conversation with Putin following his visit to Ukraine. “I spoke to President Putin today,” the prime minister wrote on social media site X on August 27, adding that the two leaders “exchanged views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as my views from my recent visit to Ukraine. I reiterated India’s firm commitment to support an early, lasting and peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
Watch: PM Modi meets Russian President Putin after Ukraine visit
Earlier, Modi’s office said in a joint India-Ukraine statement that the two leaders reiterated their readiness for further cooperation to uphold the principles of international law, including the UN Charter.
Russia described Modi’s visit as “historic and game-changing”, while Ukraine also called the prime minister’s visit “historic” and said India was “key” in the global diplomatic effort to end the war. The US also praised India’s efforts, saying President Biden “discussed with Prime Minister Modi his recent visit to Poland and Ukraine and commended his message of peace and ongoing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.”
NSA Ajit Doval’s visit to Russia
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s visit to Moscow comes days after Prime Minister Modi visited Kiev and met President Zelenskyy, followed by telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden.
According to sources, in a telephone conversation between the Prime Minister and President Putin, the two leaders decided that Ajit Doval would visit Moscow for peace talks. Other details about the timeline of the visit are yet to be revealed.
“President Vladimir Putin shared his principled assessment of the destructive policies of the Kiev authorities and its Western counterparts and stressed Russia’s efforts to resolve the conflict,” the Russian embassy said in a statement about the call.
Sources said Doval will carry Modi’s peace plan to hand it over to Putin and discuss details with senior Kremlin officials.
The phone call between Putin and Modi, and now Ajit Doval’s visit, signal Russia’s openness to peace talks and an end to the long-running war. Putin had previously said, “We (Russia) want negotiations based on agreed documents, not on (Ukraine’s) one-off demands.”
India’s growing role in world diplomacy
In a recent interview with NDTV, Kishore Mahbubani, a former UN Security Council president and former Singaporean diplomat, called India a “major geopolitical actor” and said, “How many leaders in the world can comfortably visit both Russia and Ukraine and be warmly received by both? There are very few countries in the world. And the fact that Prime Minister Modi can do that is a testament to India’s emergence as a major geopolitical actor.”
Watch: India is a major geopolitical actor, says former UN Security Council chief
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni on Saturday said India can contribute to resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The White House also said Modi’s visit to Russia and Ukraine was “potentially beneficial”.
The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.