India plans to increase its interactions with both Ukraine and Russia, emphasizing the importance of engagement from countries that communicate with both sides to help resolve their conflict, stated External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday. This statement follows reports suggesting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might visit Kyiv next month.
He also underlined the Indian stance that there will not be any resolution to the conflict coming from the battlefield. Jaishankar warned against this passivity—that maybe somewhere, something will happen and all this will get resolved—an attitude he termed "fatalistic."
"We believe we need to be more proactive," Jaishankar mentioned during an interactive session at the Japan National Press Club. He is currently on a three-day visit to Japan.
Jaishankar anticipates more frequent interactions between India and both Ukraine and Russia. In response to a question regarding Modi's potential visit to Kyiv, he declined to provide a specific answer, stating, "We, like any government, make our positions known at the right time through the right channels."
He stressed that more efforts are needed to find a resolution to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. "We shouldn't resign ourselves to the continuation of the current state of conflict, waiting for events elsewhere to provide a solution," he said, noting that such a mindset is fatalistic.
He said that the situation is grim and, hence, countries which continue to have relations with both Russia and Ukraine are of particular significance. Not many countries maintain engagement with both, he said. He recalled that Modi recently met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy and later held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow. Jaishankar himself has been in touch with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba..
India believes that every effort should be made to shift the conflict from the battlefield to the conference table, advocating for a return to dialogue and diplomacy. "From the beginning, we've held that force does not resolve international issues. Over the last two and a half years, this conflict has escalated, resulting in loss of lives, economic damage, and global repercussions," Jaishankar stated.
He unveiled the big picture of how the war contributed to food shortages, increasing energy costs by causing a shortage of fertilizers, and fuelling global inflation and economic crises in several countries.
"It is very serious as it is. Its implications in a globalised world are even more serious. We recognised that," he concluded.
