New Delhi: India is unlikely to send any representation for the aational security adviser (NSA)-level talks in Toronto on the Russia-Ukraine war given the current chill in India-Canada diplomatic ties, ThePrint has learnt. The talks on 25 October are being held on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s victory plan.
Last week, tensions escalated between India and Canada after Ottawa named then high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other Indian diplomats as “persons of interest” in the investigation into the 2023 killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Ties have steadily deteriorated since last year when Canada first alleged links between Indian government officials and India-designated terrorist Nijjar being gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023.
The fallout from this has impacted the planned NSA-level talks on the Russia-Ukraine war hosted by Ottawa, according to people familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear what other countries were invited.
The Canadian government, along with the government of Norway, will also be co-hosting a thematic discussion on President Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan on 30 October and 31 October on the release of prisoners and deported Ukrainians. It is not clear if India is an invitee to this meeting.
Indian representation at peace conferences
ThePrint has learnt that India has been invited to a number of thematic conferences that are being hosted by western countries on the Russia-Ukraine war. However, on its part, Kyiv only releases the total number of countries that attended following each conference, without mentioning individual delegations.
Representatives of the Indian government are reported to have been present at some of the meetings on the development of a peace proposal by November this year, hosted by Ukraine.
On 15 October, for instance, representatives from India were present along with other ambassadors or diplomats from the G20 countries, including Brazil, Australia, Argentina, the UK, the US, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Indonesia, Italy, South Korea, the European Union (EU), France, Germany, South Africa and Japan, in Kyiv for a discussion on the “implementation” of Zelenskyy’s peace formula, according to the Ukrainian government.
“Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. And also, no initiatives should compete with our Peace Formula and divide the international community. This is our approach,” said the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha at that meeting, according to a readout published by Kyiv.
Sybiha’s message is a veiled reference to the Brazil-China joint proposal for peace, which has been developed by the two countries without any Ukrainian input. However, Ukraine’s own efforts for a peace proposal has no Russian input—something which India has pointed out as necessary to end the war.
On 16 October, Indian ambassador to Kyiv, Ravi Shankar, held a meeting with Oleksandr Lytyvnenko, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, during which President Zelenskyy’s plan to end the war was discussed, according to a readout of the discussion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the few global leaders to be in touch with both Kyiv and Moscow as well as to have held bilateral talks with both countries this year. India has, in the past, participated in other international conferences on the Russia-Ukraine war.
In August 2023, Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser pushed for respecting territorial integrity at an NSA-level meeting held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the conflict, which is now over two years old.
In June 2024, Pavan Kapoor, the current deputy NSA, represented New Delhi at the Global Peace Summit on the war in Ukraine, hosted by Switzerland, while he was then secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
India opted out of the joint communiqué at the end of the summit, saying that any peace proposal requires acceptance by both parties involved in the war.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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