New Delhi: The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is miffed with the ambassadors representing France, the United Kingdom and Germany over their joint opinion piece in a national daily days ahead of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s visit to the national capital.
“We see this [the opinion piece] as very unusual. It is not an acceptable diplomatic practice to advise India’s foreign relations with a third country. We have taken note of it,” an official from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Tuesday.
Ambassador Thierry Mathou of France, Philipp Ackermann of Germany and High Commissioner Lindy Cameron of the UK wrote a joint opinion piece carried Monday by the Times of India, highlighting their perceived position on Russia’s violations of international legal agreements in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
The three diplomats further argued that while the world has been pushing for peace, Moscow is stalling the ongoing peace efforts with indiscriminate attacks on a daily basis against Ukraine.
"World wants the Ukraine war to end, but Russia doesn’t seem serious about peace"
Read my editorial with German and French colleagues in the @timesofindia 🇬🇧🇩🇪🇫🇷🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/pwIyC2MOOX
— Lindy Cameron (@Lindy_Cameron) December 1, 2025
The piece has set off a furore on social media with Kanwal Sibal, the former Indian foreign secretary, calling it “vicious” and a “diplomatic insult against India, as it questions India’s ties with a very friendly third country”.
This vicious article against Russia just before Putin’s state visit to India breaches diplomatic norms, is a diplomatic insult to India as it questions India’s close ties with a very friendly third country.
It is interference in our internal affairs as the purpose is to fuel… https://t.co/oN5E2iLqT5
— Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) December 1, 2025
Sibal called for the MEA to “express its displeasure publicly” with the three envoys. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin is set to arrive in the national capital Thursday for a two-day state visit. Apart from holding discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in both restricted and delegation formats, he is set to be received at the Rashtrapati Bhawan Friday morning.
The visit is part of the annual India-Russia summit mechanism. Modi travelled to Moscow in July 2024. The visit is expected and is set to be the 23rd India-Russia summit since it was first held in 2000.
A number of topics are on the agenda, including a potential procurement of five additional S-400 Triumf air defence systems apart from engagement in high technology sectors such as civil nuclear cooperation.
India has maintained strong ties with Russia through the almost four-year war in Ukraine. The European Union along with a number of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) countries have supported Ukraine with arms and aid.
Putin’s visit to India comes at a time when the Trump administration in the US is attempting to find a breakthrough in the conflict with a potential peace deal. The last few weeks have seen intense negotiations, with the US and Russia finding an agreeable 28-point peace plan, which was diluted to a 19-point plan after Washington engaged in negotiations with Kyiv, Brussels and the European capitals.
The Europeans were originally blindsided by the US-Russia proposal, given that it had no involvement from any of the governments on the continent.
US’ envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet Putin Tuesday in Moscow.
The results of the discussions between Putin and Witkoff and the overall state of negotiations is expected to figure in talks between the Russian President and Prime Minister Modi. India has maintained that “dialogue and diplomacy” is the only way the war can end.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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