Ukraine believes India should be more pro-active in efforts to achieve peace between Moscow and Kiev if it wants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC), the country’s ambassador in New Delhi, Aleksandr Polishchuk, has told Bloomberg.
The envoy said that Kiev wants India to “moderate” potential talks with Moscow. He noted, according to the agency, that India should not be content playing “a postman passing messages between Ukraine and Russia” but should instead play a more “robust role.”
“If India is aiming for a permanent seat in the UNSC to serve its own interest, it is setting the bar too low,” Bloomberg quoted Polishchuk as saying.
His remarks come a day after Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said while addressing the media in Berlin that his country is open to any “serious” step towards ending the Ukraine conflict. He said, however, that he considers Russia’s participation in any talks essential.
Jaishankar was answering a question regarding India’s potential role in mediating the conflict – a topic being discussed actively both in New Delhi and in other global capitals after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Moscow in July and Kiev in August.
“Suggestions have been made [about India hosting the peace summit] from time to time but let me say this – for us, this is not about a process or about being seen to do something. What is important for us is the reality of the conflict that is taking place today. So, we are always open to any step that is serious, that is impactful and that is, in our view, a step towards peace,” Jaishankar said in Berlin, according to the Hindustan Times.
India’s position, he said, is based on several principles – that differences and disputes cannot be settled through war; that a solution won’t emerge from the battlefield; that Russia must be at the table for any successful peace process and that India is “concerned and engaged” in trying to find a way to resolve the conflict, The Hindu newspaper reported.
“At some point, there has to be a negotiation. When there is a discussion, we also think it is essential to have Russia in it, otherwise the discussions don’t gain further movement,” Jaishankar said. The diplomat made the remarks following talks with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock held in preparation for a visit to New Delhi by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in October.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky told Indian media after his meeting with Modi in Kiev that India could host the next so-called ‘peace summit’, following a gathering in Switzerland to which Russia was not invited. This would be possible if New Delhi agreed to sign the communique that emerged from the Swiss-hosted event, Zelensky asserted.
India stopped short of signing the joint communique because Russia had been excluded from the conference.
India has not officially responded to Zelensky’s remarks, but foreign policy analysts suggested that they didn’t go well with New Delhi and undermined Modi’s peace effort. While visiting Kiev, the Indian leader stated that India has not been “neutral or an indifferent bystander” as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues, and has always been “on the side of peace.