If Russia says no to European peacekeepers, will India step in? What Shashi Tharoor, Tony Abbott said

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have been leading efforts to forge a peacekeeping plan for intervening in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Despite over 30 European nations expressing their willingness to contribute forces in the event of a peace deal, Russia has repeatedly rejected the idea of peacekeeping troops from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) countries being stationed in Ukraine.

Moscow has made it clear that any deployment involving troops from Nato member nations would be a non-starter: an unsurprising demand given Moscow’s deep-rooted opposition to what it sees as Western military encroachment on its borders.

Attention is now turning to alternative contributors– including India.

Shashi Tharoor on Indian peacekeepers in Ukraine

At the Raisina Dialogue 2025, former Indian minister and ex-UN under-secretary general Shashi Tharoor highlighted the prospect of India sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. While he acknowledged that any such decision would depend on multiple factors, he suggested that, under the right conditions, India could be open to playing a role in stabilising post-war Ukraine.

“The fact that the two parties seem to be ready to agree to peace, the fact that there would presumably be some very serious international backing for an international peacekeeping venture—all of those things have to be borne in mind,” Tharoor said.

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“For an Indian government person making such a decision, those considerations would really have to be uppermost before they say yes or no.”

He went on to highlight India’s extensive history in global peacekeeping, noting that New Delhi has deployed a quarter of a million peacekeepers across 49 different missions.

“This is a country with an extensive record of having gone out to places far removed from India’s direct interest in order to serve the cause of peace. So, why not,” he said, suggesting that India’s credibility and experience as a neutral peacekeeper could make it a viable candidate for such a mission.

READ MORE: I am the one with egg on my face: Shashi Tharoor on his 2022 stand on Russia-Ukraine war | Raisina Dialogue

Tony Abbott backs India’s role

The idea of India stepping into the peacekeeping role was also endorsed by former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in a separate session at the same event. Speaking during a panel discussion titled “Rescripting the Liberal Order: Can Tariffs Trump China?”, Abbott said that India’s global rise should be matched with an expanded role in international security efforts.

Abbott referred to the comments made by Tharoor saying a panelist at an earlier session of the Raisina Dialogue also spoke about the possibility of India sending a peacekeeping force to Ukraine if and when there is a ceasefire agreement in place.

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As Russia stands opposed to the deployment of a European Union peacekeeping force, there have been suggestions about India stepping in. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met both Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visiting Moscow and Kyiv with the message that “this is not the era of war”. Both Putin and Zelenskyy have hailed PM Modi’s efforts to bring peace in Ukraine.

India has repeatedly dismissed the criticism that it has been neutral in the over three-year war, asserting it is on the side of peace. But it has not commented on sending its troops as peacekeepers in Ukraine.

Previously, Abbott had lauded PM Modi’s leadership and the country’s rise over the last decade. News agency IANS quoted Abbott as saying he wanted to see India overtake China as a critical supplies chain leader and also as one of the “real leaders” of the free world.

With inputs from agencies