New Delhi: India Tuesday summoned the top Russian diplomat in the country and lodged a strong protest, following an attack on a merchant vessel in the Black Sea that killed four Indian sailors.
Russia’s Charge D’Affaires (Cd’A) Vladimir Ladanov was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) at 10:30 am. Mayank Singh, the Joint Secretary, Eurasia Division in the MEA, met with the Russian Cd’A.
The Ministry conveyed India’s ‘grave concerns’ and ‘unequivocal condemnation’ of the attack on the commercial vessel, emphasizing that such attacks undermine the safety, security, and stability of international maritime commerce, the MEA said in a statement.
The meeting lasted for a little around 15 minutes, with India calling for no further attacks on civilian vessels. This is the first time this year that the Russian Cd’A has been summoned for strikes killing Indians in Ukraine.
The MV GOLDEN LEO was attacked Sunday, while departing the Ukrainian port of Odesa. The Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship was crewed by 17 seafarers, including five Indian nationals. Four Indians were killed, while one remains in critical condition in an Ukrainian hospital.
“India condemns such attacks and reiterates that targeting commercial shipping and endangering innocent civilian crew members, or otherwise impeding freedom of navigation and commerce, is deplorable and should be avoided,” the MEA had said in a statement late Monday evening.
Ukrainian authorities have said that at least nine crew members in all have been killed in the attack. Russian cruise missiles hit the vessel, according to Ukrainian authorities, which led to a fire. One Ukrainian pilot involved in the search and rescue operation was killed, taking the total death toll to 10.
The Odesa region has come under increasing strikes from Russia, as the war between Moscow and Kyiv continues to intensify in recent months. At least 28 people have been killed in Russian strikes in the region this month alone, according to media reports. Ukraine has taken aim at Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia for 12 years.
Merchant vessels continue to travel through a Black Sea corridor established by Ukraine, carrying its agricultural goods for global markets. Since the beginning of the war, Russian forces and its navy operated freely across the Black Sea. However, the Ukrainians responded through maritime unmanned vehicles, and the damage done to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the last couple of years, allowed Kyiv to reestablish a corridor for its exports.
Moscow, in recent weeks, has increased its attacks within the Black Sea region, potentially aiming to disrupt the corridor. Ukraine, meanwhile, has been striking Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure to disrupt Moscow’s major global exports.
“In the last wave of attacks, it wasn’t an isolated incident. Just yesterday, Russia attacked another foreign merchant vessel in the Black Sea flying the flag of Antigua and Barbuda, killing one person and injuring three others. Russia is deliberately turning freedom of navigation into a target of war,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Monday in a statement on the social media platform X.
The Black Sea remains the only maritime route for Ukraine to export its goods. The route allows merchant vessels to transit the water body via the coasts of Romania and Bulgaria–both European Union member-states–before travelling through Türkiye and into the Mediterranean Sea.
The last few months has seen increasing attacks on civilian merchant vessels. At least 13 Indians—largely seafarers—have been killed in or near the Strait of Hormuz due to attacks on merchant vessels by both Iranian and American forces. India summoned the American Cd’A twice to lodge its diplomatic protests, while the Iranian ambassador and Cd’A have also been summoned by the MEA for the same purpose.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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wow – we must keep condemning all such actions that kill our people at sea or on faraway lands – meanwhile, let us just hammer the peacefully protesting students here at home.