India not a mediator in Ukrainian Conflict

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar emphasized that Moscow and Kiev should hold direct talks

India has been in contact with Moscow and Kiev at different times, but New Delhi does not see itself in the role of a mediator in the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said during a visit to the UK.

“I am not sure,” he said when asked whether India sees itself as a mediator on Ukraine. However, according to him, India was one of the few countries that regularly held talks with both Moscow and Kiev at various levels.

“And at various points of time, if there was a moment or an occasion when our weighing in was useful, we have tried to do that. Wherever there has been a sense that, okay, India can do something, somebody has come to us and said: ‘Would you be willing to do that?’ We have always been open-minded about it,” the Foreign Minister pointed out.

“And I would say this: every time we have had a significant and useful conversation with either of them, we have taken the approval of [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin to share this with the Ukrainians,” the foreign minister added.

He emphasized that Moscow and Kiev should hold direct talks. “Our view has been that they need to do direct negotiations. That has been our consistent position. We have never advised them what should be the format and what should be the terms of the negotiations.

That is their business,” Jaishankar pointed out.He also said that India does not have any peace plan for a settlement in Ukraine. “We haven’t done a peace plan or put out a particular view.

We don’t think it’s appropriate,” the Minister stressed.India has taken a neutral stance on the conflict in Ukraine and has not joined the Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Since the beginning of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term, New Delhi has been actively engaged with Russia and Ukraine on the settlement. Modi has visited Moscow and Kiev and held telephone conversations with Putin.

In addition, PM Modi’s national security adviser Ajit Doval visited St. Petersburg and was received by the Russian president.