PM Modi persuaded Putin to not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine war, says Polish deputy foreign minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi persuaded Russian leader Vladimir Putin to not use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine, according to Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski.

In an interview with CNN-News 18, Bartoszewski said that Poland was “grateful” for India’s involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“We had a great visit of PM Modi to Warsaw. PM Modi did persuade Putin not to use nuclear tactical weapons. We want permanent peace. We want stable and sustainable peace in Ukraine," said Bartoszewski.

This is not the first time that Western officials have mentioned Modi’s role in convincing Putin to not use nuclear weapons in the war.

In March 2024, US officials told CNN that the Joe Biden administration at the time enlisted help from China and India to discourage Putin from launching nuclear attacks. Officials said that the outreach by Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping helped avert a crisis.

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“I think we believe showing the international community the concern about this, particularly the concern from key countries for Russia and the Global South, was also a helpful, persuasive factor and showed them what the cost of all this could be,” an official told CNN at the time.

Since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin and his senior officials have threatened to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine and the West numerous times. Putin has also revised Russia’s nuclear doctrine that allows a nuclear attack to be launched in response to even a conventional attack. Under the revised doctrine, a conventional attack aided by a nuclear-armed state would be treated as a joint attack which would make it eligible for retaliation by nuclear weapons.