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It appears that two hugs by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President Volodymyr Zelensky in Apulia and Kyiv have been weighed lightly compared to the one given to Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Zelensky had invited and hosted PM Modi and has been asking India, along with other Western leaders, to leverage its influence with President Putin to end the conflict. Hence PM Modi used his personal diplomacy and credit with Putin in July to find a reasonable solution through dialogue, diplomacy, and respect for the UN Charter.
Logical triad of meetings on the sidelines of the G7 and Moscow was to head to Kyiv even if it entailed 20 hours of train ride for the Indian leader. The cause of peace and diplomacy was important. The visit has no doubt repaired the misplaced deficit in the bilateral context, as the four MoUs and agreements were signed and a detailed joint statement was issued on the way forward.
PM Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Poland and Ukraine, both of whom are antagonistic to Russia. While empathising with Zelensky, PM Modi urged that both sides should sit together to find a way out of this crisis. “I want to assure you that India is ready to play an active role in any efforts towards peace," the Indian PM said, assuring that he personally was ready to play his part.
No doubt, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, it is a very complex issue. Both sides seem to have vertical positions. It has been a big question: to what extent are they willing to bend to come to the table? It appears despite the war fatigue and exceptional losses in all respects, Kyiv (backed by its Western allies) and Moscow are hellbent on carrying on with their quest to defeat the other.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsUkraine’s recent incursions into the Russian Kursk region could give them some leverage in negotiations, but retaliation will continue to be fierce unless Kiev has sufficient fire and diplomatic power to ward off further acquisitions of territory by Russia. Given the western financial stress, internal uncertainties, and US election outcome, one could not extrapolate that possibility beyond a point.
The India-Ukraine relationship does have sufficient potential for further growth in a bilateral, regional, and even global context as New Delhi stays committed to the global welfare of the Global South, whose third summit it just held virtually and who have been unfairly impacted by this geopolitical war. This is also a prime mover for India’s efforts to work for peace, ceasefire, and resolution through dialogue and diplomacy. Bilaterally, both sides committed to enhance trade and investments and collaboration in other areas and to activate existing bilateral institutional mechanisms towards that end.
India will also be undertaking several high-impact community development projects under the government grants to be provided by New Delhi. Indian businesses, in due course, will have enough opportunity to participate in the $500 billion reconstruction plan in Ukraine, most likely in collaboration with their European partners. Pharma and food and agricultural areas are other key drivers of the relationship. Defence cooperation has been active despite the Pakistan factor and would be pursued vigorously as the Joint Working Group established in 2012 moves ahead with new areas of cooperation. Ukraine once again supported India’s permanent seat at the reformed UN Security Council.
As for the most critical aspect of the visit and India’s role as a peacemaker in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, a couple of points need mention. Kyiv proposed that the joint communique issued at the Peace Summit (which India did not sign as New Delhi maintained that for any meaningful outcome both sides must be there) could be the starting point as a peace framework.
Russia is apparently studying it. At the next summit, which India might even host, Ukraine would have perhaps no objection to Russia being part of it. However, just peace through dialogue and diplomacy can only be achieved through adherence and compliance with international law without exception. India has repeatedly mentioned this.
PM Modi from the very beginning of this war when, in his interactions with President Putin, he conveyed that famous statement that ’this is not an era of war‘ and that ‘solution could not be found in the battlefield’. He condemned the killing of children who become casualties of war. India has played a constructive role in the last two years by supporting the Black Sea grain deal and countering a nuclear spillover. India sent humanitarian shipments 17 times. Even during PM Modi’s visit, four of the BHISHM Cubes (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri) were gifted to Ukraine to counter medical emergencies. It can be airlifted and is compactly packed into 72 cubes for transport. This is needed in the war zone as each BHISHM Cube can handle approximately 200 emergency cases, catering to a wide range of medical needs such as trauma, burns, fractures, and shock.
A point that needs to be set right and in perspective is the accusation by President Zelensky that India has empowered Russia by buying increasing quantities of crude and expected this to be reduced or discontinued without being mindful of India’s own critical energy security interests, despite the fact that both sides have agreed to make the comprehensive relationship into a strategic partnership. He is also not being truthful when he ignores the fact that his own Western benefactors in Europe have been buying billions of dollars of Russian gas, reaching their highest limit in May itself. Kpler, a data provider, stated that Russia is now the EU’s second-largest LNG supplier, with nearly 16 per cent of EU’s total LNG supply in 2023 which was an increase of 40 per cent from 2021. And France, Belgium, and Spain account for 87 per cent of LNG imports. Should that not be seen by the same logic? Hypocrisy and convenience are hardly uncommon in diplomatic discourse. The same applies to some of the critics of the PM’s visit and its timing at home, especially for political brownie points or just for the hack of it. We need not forget that seven decades ago India had played a highly appreciated role in diffusing the Korean crisis, and it took over two years to stabilise the situation.
Diplomacy is not buffoonery.
Today also, India is at a cusp and ready to play a role for the cause of peace, being trusted by all, even though by some rather grudgingly. But it takes two to tango and hope all the stakeholders are on the same page if they don’t wish to work for more havoc, humanitarian disaster, and destruction serving their myopic geopolitical ends.
The author is the former Indian Ambassador to Jordan, Libya and Malta and is currently a Distinguished Fellow with Vivekananda International Foundation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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