American President Donald Trump’s lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the hurriedly convened European leaders’ summit in Paris, are beginning to vindicate the stand India took vis-à-vis the Russia-Ukraine War – of ending the conflict through negotiations. “I know that war cannot solve problems, solutions and peace talks can’t succeed among bombs, guns and bullets. And we need to find a way to peace through dialogue,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told Putin in his televised remarks at the Kremlin in July 2024.
In fact, as far back as September 2022, in a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, Modi had told Putin that “today’s time is not a time for war”, emphasising the significance of “diplomacy and dialogue.” Assuring the Indian PM, Putin said: “I know your position on the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns…We will do our best to end this as soon as possible.”
In 2024, as the Russia-Ukraine War entered its third year, former US President Joe Biden hosted world leaders in Washington for NATO’s 75th summit, reaffirming the alliance’s commitment to support Ukraine. Around the same time, in July 2024, Modi headed to Moscow to meet Putin and convey that “the solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict cannot be found on the battleground and needs to have both parties for the resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.” In March 2024, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba visited India and met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for a comprehensive discussion on the peace formula, with an assurance of continuing bilateral cooperation and efforts to end the conflict.
Also read: Russia-Ukraine conflict is a masterclass in 21st-century warfare
Growing apprehensions
Both the US and European capitals were trying to dissuade New Delhi from taking a pro-Russia stand, and openly align with their view to condemn Moscow as an aggressor. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) failed to adopt a resolution condemning Russia and compelling it to implement a ceasefire. The draft resolution, submitted by Albania and the United States in February 2022, garnered support from 11 members but was vetoed by the Russian Federation as India, China and the UAE abstained. India’s stand, of course, was that the conflict needs to end not by force but by dialogue and diplomacy.
Three years later, and nearly a month after Trump 2.0’s reign began, on 18 February 2025, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov held talks to end the war diplomatically, just as New Delhi had emphasised repeatedly.
As was expected, there were no representatives from either Ukraine or the European Union present in the meeting, confirming one of the two worst fears of the EU leadership, which had huddled into a hurriedly called meeting after the infamous Munich Security Conference. The first apprehension, that the Trump administration will go ahead with its agenda of a US-Russia deal to end the war in Ukraine, came true. With Washington leaving both Ukraine and the EU out of any negotiations and charting an independent and unilateral plan for post-ceasefire security architecture and reconstruction, the second apprehension has also come true.
New Delhi’s assessment of the Russia-Ukraine War was probably based on certain historical facts and geopolitical realities. It has been evident from the statements of the former KGB chief and Russia’s strong ruler for over two decades, as well as many of his associates, that Russia doesn’t consider Ukraine as a separate country with its own national identity. Putin frankly admitted his bitterness at the Soviet Union’s disintegration in 1991, terming it “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century”. His uncompromising determination to bring Ukraine back into the Russian fold is part of his strategy to redraw the post-Cold War security architecture of Europe with Russian characters, even as Xi Jinping’s China is engaged in constructing a new world order with Chinese characters.
Both Europe and the US should know that the eastward expansion of NATO and the induction of Ukraine as a member is the biggest threat to Putin’s objectives of reclaiming Russia’s strategic footprints in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. With another 11 years of power to realise his uncompromising geopolitical ambitions, Putin wants NATO’s door to be permanently shut for Ukraine.
The success of NATO, the military arm of US-sponsored Atlanticism, is as much a pipe dream as Putin’s revival of Moscow-centric Eurocentrism in the era of multilateralism advocated by New Delhi. Negotiated settlement of conflicts, not unilateral sanctions, will be the way forward in the present juncture for a guaranteed peaceful future, which Donald Trump appears to have realised. India stands vindicated in its approach to the Russia-Ukraine War.
Seshadri Chari is the former editor of ‘Organiser’. He tweets @seshadrichari. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)
As a dove, one would welcome this philosophy being translated into much better relations with China and Pakistan.
The author seems to be all praise for a negotiation between Russia and USA, leaving out Ukraine. He also seems sympathetic of Putin’s pre 1990 concept of Russian borders.
In that case why not accept that Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh borders are a colonial British invention and open negotiations with the Chinese , keeping an open mind ?