Pro-active India working hard to end Russia-Ukraine war

Peace is the precondition of growth and prosperity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was wrong to say India was not taking any side in the Russia and Ukraine conflict and that the country had been on the side of peace since the beginning of the conflict. The prime minister even offered to contribute personally to a peaceful resolution of the crisis. If we manage to stop the war between them, it will get a big diplomatic leap besides other benefits.

NSA's tour different from PM's visit

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Russia on July 8-9 and Ukraine on August 23, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited St Petersburg in Russia to attend the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) summit of NSAs, but his visit had more to do with working for peace in the region by making efforts to end war between Russia and Ukraine to bring them to negotiation table. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in no uncertain terms, made it clear that China, India and Brazil can mediate for the resolution of the crisis between the two countries -- Russia and Ukraine.

Other diplomatic channels are at play as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in touch with NATO countries to go slow on Ukraine as war is not in their interest either. Ukraine survived the war for so long with the support of NATO only. Meanwhile, Doval met Putin with the message of Prime Minister Modi after his last meeting with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who unfortunately made some allegations against our country about its oil procurement from Russia by calling India to support the war economy. Still, even Ukraine feels that Indian mediation between Russia and Ukraine may bear fruits to save not only lives but resources as well. 

China should be kept at bay 

Entry of China in the negotiation is not in the interest of India, and Brazil, too, is in the game of not allowing us to emerge.

The issue of cross-border terrorism and radicalisation that India has been facing since 1989 and Russia, too, faced recently was discussed in the BRICS summit of NSAs. But Doval is on a special mission to not only discuss a strategic partnership that included intelligence sharing, which has come to nought given the ongoing war. So almost halted strategic partnership cannot move until war is stopped completely. Because of the present scenario, Doval’s visit is very important for the peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war and future development programmes. 

Before meeting Putin, the NSA held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu to discuss issues of mutual interests before discussing the possible role of India in finding a solution to the ongoing conflict. The Doval-Shoigu meeting on September 11 evening took place on the margins of the conclave of NSAs of the BRICS nations. Prime Minister Modi's talks with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Kyiv on August 23 figured in the talks between the two NSAs.

They also discussed bilateral cooperation and discussed important issues of mutual interest. Moreover, ending the war is in the mutual interest as if Russia is under financial strain due to war, India too is facing mutual issues concerning business and people-to-people affairs. The future of many students from here who went there to study MBBS is in limbo. 

Doval visited Russia two-and-half weeks after Prime Minister Modi paid a very high-profile visit to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Throughout wartime, the Indian prime minister insisted that both sides sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an active role in restoring peace in the region.

The significance of timing these visits 

The Ukraine visit of Prime Minister Modi was the first by any Indian prime minister since the disintegration of the USSR and Ukraine became an independent nation in 1991. This happened six weeks after he held summit talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

In the last few days, there have been calls for India's potential role in pushing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, as New Delhi has good relations with both countries. 

Besides Putin, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, following her talks with Zelenskyy on September 7, 2024, said that India and China could play a role in finding a solution to the ongoing conflict. New Delhi has been maintaining for a very long time that the conflict in Ukraine must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

The Doval-Shoigu meeting on August 11 evening took place on the margins of a conclave of NSAs of the BRICS nations in which Prime Minister Modi will travel to Russia's Kazan next month to attend the annual BRICS summit. The Russian president also proposed to hold a bilateral meeting with PM Modi on October 22 on the sidelines of the BRICS summit to summarise the outcomes of joint work on the implementation of the agreements reached during his visit to Moscow and to outline prospects for the near future.

Prime Minister Modi visited Russia on 08-09 July for the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit, where they discussed bilateral cooperation in political, trade, investment, energy, connectivity, science and technology, defence, and security spheres as well as regional and global issues of mutual interest including engagement in the UN and multilateral groupings such as the G20, BRICS, SCO etc. These discussions were held based on bilateral priorities without reference to relations with a third country.

In addition to the joint statement of the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit and the leaders’ joint statement on the development of strategic areas of India-Russia Economic Cooperation for the period up to 2030, nine other documents were signed during the prime minister’s visit. However, implementing many of them will be difficult without the war stopped. 

The same is true with Ukraine, underlining the importance of defence cooperation between India and Ukraine; the two leaders agreed to continue to work towards facilitating a stronger relationship between defence entities in both countries, including through collaborations and partnerships for manufacturing in India and cooperation in emerging areas. Both countries agreed to hold the 2nd meeting of the Indian-Ukrainian Joint Working Group on Military-Technical Cooperation, established under the 2012 Defence Cooperation Agreement, shortly in India.

The Indian side looked forward to Ukraine’s joining the International Solar Alliance (ISA) for energy security and reducing its carbon footprint. But war has to be stopped if documents on various subjects signed have to be brought to the ground for India to become the $5 trillion economy that India is working for and for global peace to prevail.