New Delhi: Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Friday held a “substantive” discussion with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, which included Kyiv’s request for New Delhi’s participation in its international peace summit to be hosted by Switzerland later this year. India, however, made no firm commitment on participation.
It is learnt that a request was also made for a meeting between the Ukrainian foreign minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which did not materialise.
The proposed peace summit is part of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attempt to build international support for his 10-point peace plan, which was first announced in November 2022 during the G20 leaders’ summit in Indonesia.
Jaishankar, in his opening remarks during Friday’s meeting with Kuleba, said: “In recent months, we’ve actually had interactions at various levels. I’m glad to see that some of our bilateral mechanisms have also met. I think this has created a certain momentum in our bilateral relationship. And today, after this discussion in the afternoon, we look forward also to the meeting of the (India-Ukraine) Inter-Governmental Commission.”
“Your visit gives us an opportunity, obviously, to understand the situation in your own region, and I look forward to hearing your perspectives on that,” he added.
Since the start of war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, India has had a guarded approach towards Kyiv, keeping in mind its traditionally close ties with Moscow.
India has maintained that it supports all efforts towards peace. New Delhi has historically been close to Moscow and has not yet criticised Russia for the conflict in Ukraine. In late 2022, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, PM Modi had told Russian president Vladimir Putin that this is “not an era” for war.
Ties between Kyiv and New Delhi have, however, gone through a transformation since the early months of the war, when Kuleba criticised Indian purchase of discounted Russian oil, to now, when the Ukrainian government is making efforts to have India at its peace talks.
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Frosty ties between Kyiv & New Delhi
In the early months of the war, Kuleba had criticised India’s purchase of discounted Russian oil as paid for in “Ukrainian blood”.
In an interview with NDTV Thursday, Kuleba attempted to defend his comment, saying that Ukraine was seeking “balance” from New Delhi in its approach to Russia and Ukraine.
That “balance” has remained elusive for the better part of the last two years.
Last August, during a meeting of National Security Advisers (NSA) in Jeddah, India had pointed out that the peace proposals put forward so far were non-starters for both Russia and Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan includes security guarantees for Ukraine and the ending of the war, withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities, establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes, nuclear safety, export of foodgrain, energy security, release of prisoners, restoration of Ukrainian territorial integrity and environmental protection.
As reported by ThePrint, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had said during the NSAs’ meeting: “Currently, several peace proposals have been put forward. Each has some positive points but none is acceptable to both sides. The key question that needs to be addressed in this meeting is whether a solution that is acceptable to all relevant stakeholders can be found.”
PM Modi is yet to travel to Ukraine, despite requests from Kyiv. He met with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 leaders’ summit in Japan last May — the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since the start of the war. Modi, at the time, promised that India “will do whatever we can for the resolution of the Ukraine war”.
The PM also met with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in New Delhi a few weeks after the war began in 2022, followed by a meeting with Putin at the SCO summit in 2022, and throughout 2023 remained in constant touch with the Russian president at various international fora.
The PM, however, spoke to Zelenskyy on 20 March, hours after congratulating Putin on his victory in the presidential election, and reiterated India’s “consistent” support for peace and an early end to the conflict. During the call, Zelenskyy lobbied for Indian participation in the international peace summit.
This is Kuleba’s maiden visit to India, and the first by a Ukrainian foreign minister since 2017. Kuleba and Jaishankar also co-chaired the India-Ukraine intergovernmental commission review – the first since 2018.
G20 and New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration
India did not extend an invitation to Zelenskyy for the G20 leaders’ summit held in New Delhi last September. The Ukrainian ambassador later told ThePrint that India “unwittingly” violated its neutrality due to the lack of invitation for Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy had addressed the G20 leaders’ summit held at Bali in November 2022 during the Indonesian presidency. Furthermore, the New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration (NDLD) also saw a different language formulation on the war in Ukraine.
The Bali declaration had deplored in the “strongest terms” the Russian “aggression” against Ukraine. In the NDLD, the war between Russia and Ukraine was termed as the “war in Ukraine” rather than war “against” Ukraine.
The NDLD saw unanimous support from all G20 leaders, including Russia. A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson, Oleh Nikolenko, at the time criticised the final declaration as “nothing to be proud of”.
Jaishankar had defended the final language in the NDLD by saying that “Bali was Bali and New Delhi is New Delhi. I mean, Bali was a year ago.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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Perhaps Russia and Ukraine should sit across the table, one on one, facilitated by a common friend like President Erdogan of Turkey, and attempt to reach a ceasefire. Followed by protractions negotiations, leading to an outcome in terms of which Ukraine, very unfortunately, will have to accept loss of Crimea and areas in effective control of Russia since its annexation. 2. India cannot be neutral or an honest broker. Better to stay away.