PM speaks to Putin, Zelenskyy, calls for dialogue, diplomacy to end war
Modi speaks to the Russian President to congratulate him on his victory in the recent election; he follows it up with a call to the Ukrainian President to reiterate India’s commitment to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called for an “early end to the ongoing conflict”.
Mr. Modi first called Mr. Putin to congratulate him on his victory in the recent election and followed it up with a call to Mr. Zelenskyy and reiterated India’s commitment to “do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution”.
Mr. Zelenskyy has called upon India to participate in the inaugural Peace Summit in Switzerland.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is also expected to visit India later this month.
“An exchange of views was also held on a number of issues on the international agenda, in particular in the context of the situation around Ukraine. The mood to further coordination between India in multilateral formats, including the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS was confirmed,” the Russian statement said.
“Both sides noted with satisfaction that mutually beneficial ties in the trade, economic and investment fields, in the fields of energy and transport are progressively and dynamically developing in line with a particularly privileged strategic partnership,” it added.
A statement from the Indian side added, “While discussing the RussiaUkraine conflict, the PM reiterated India’s consistent position in favour of dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward.”
Mr. Modi, in a statement on X, said, “Had a good conversation with President Zelenskyy on strengthening the IndiaUkraine partnership. Conveyed India’s consistent support for all efforts for peace and bringing an early end to the ongoing conflict. India will continue to provide humanitarian assistance guided by our peoplecentric approach.”
In his remarks, Mr. Zelenskyy said on X, “It will be important for us to see India attend the inaugural Peace Summit, which is currently being prepared in Switzerland. We discussed the development of our bilateral relations, which should include a meeting of our teams and a session of the intergovernmental commission on cooperation in New Delhi in the nearest future.”
Earlier, The Hindu had reported, citing diplomatic sources, that Mr. Kuleba is planning a visit to Delhi by the end of this month.
India has maintained a neutral position on the war itself but has intensified trade, especially energy ties, with Russia against the backdrop of the war that started in February 2022. This relation had drawn criticism from Mr. Kuleba in 2022.
Last week, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval held a telephone conversation with Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian President.
After the ModiZelenskyy conversation, the External Affairs Ministry, in a statement, said, “While discussing the ongoing RussiaUkraine conflict, the PM reiterated India’s peoplecentric approach and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward. He highlighted that India supports all efforts for an early and peaceful resolution of all issues between the Parties. He added that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution.”
Mr. Zelenskyy has not visited India since the war broke out and Mr. Putin too cancelled travelling for the G20 summit held here in September 2023 but Mr. Modi met Mr. Zelenskyy in Hiroshima during the last G7 summit. Mr. Jaishankar visited Moscow in the last week of December 2023 when he met Mr. Putin. During that meeting, Mr. Putin extended an invite to Mr. Modi to visit Moscow.
Ukrainian sources have not revealed the details of Mr. Kuleba’s planned visit so far, but there are indications that the visit will be aimed at activating a channel of communication with the goal to ensure dialogue over the stalemate in Ukraine. The coming months are expected to provide the Indian side to play a more active role in this case as Russia is the chair of BRICS this year and will host Indian interlocutors on multiple occasions when the events related to the BRICS will be hosted in various Russian cities.