New Delhi: A top official from Ukraine invited India to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula and grain initiative, saying that New Delhi should diversify its energy imports.
Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova arrived in Delhi Monday on an official visit, which was also her maiden trip to India, and attended a meeting at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
“Pleased to have a meeting with Secretary (West) MEA Sanjay Verma in New Delhi…Invited India to join President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula and ‘Grain From Ukraine’ initiative (sic),” she said in a tweet.
Zelenskyy first announced his peace formula at the G20 Leaders Summit last November in Bali. The 10-point peace plan calls for Russia to release all prisoners of war, confirmation of the war’s end by a document signed by the involved parties, among other demands.
The ‘Grain from Ukraine’ programme, also launched last November, seeks to partner with countries and private players to deliver wheat to African and Asian nations suffering under global food shortages. It was launched after Russia pulled out of a UN-brokered grain deal with Ukraine.
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‘India should diversify energy resources’
Speaking to the media persons outside the MEA, Dzhaparova, without naming Russia, called on New Delhi to diversify its energy imports and military contracts.
“India should be pragmatic in diversifying its energy resources, military contracts and political interactions,” she told reporters. She, however, added that Ukraine is not in a position to “instruct” India.
Clocking in at 1.2 million barrels per day, India has been importing large amounts of Russian crude since the start of the war in February last year, according to data from December 2022.
“When you are dependent on Russia, they will always use it as an instrument for blackmail,” the Ukrainian minister said.
She further praised Prime Minister Modi’s remark in Samarkand last year where he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that today is not the “era of war”.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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