New Delhi: Stressing that the Ukraine conflict cannot be resolved on the battlefield, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that Russia and Ukraine have to negotiate, and India is willing to advise if needed. He also said India is not “closed to business from China”, but the question was “in which sectors… and on what terms”.
Responding to questions at the Annual Ambassadors’ Conference of the German Foreign Office in Berlin, Jaishankar said, “We don’t think this conflict is going to be resolved on the battlefield. At some stage, there’s going to be some negotiation. When there is a negotiation, the main parties — Russia and Ukraine — have to be at that negotiation.”
Recalling PM Narendra Modi’s visits to Russia and Ukraine, he said Modi has said in both countries that this was not an era of war. “We think you’ve got to negotiate… If you want advice, we are always willing to give it…,” he said, adding countries have differences, but conflicts are not a way to resolve them.
The remarks come as Russian President Vladimir Putin had said last week that India is among the three countries he is constantly in touch with over the Ukraine conflict and said they are sincerely making efforts to resolve it. Also, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia newspaper that India could help in establishing a dialogue on Ukraine.
PM Modi, on his visit to Ukraine last month, told President Volodymyr Zelensky that both Ukraine and Russia should sit together without wasting time to end the ongoing war and that India was ready to play an "active role" to restore peace in the region.
'Some progress with China on the boundary issue'Speaking at the Global Centre for Security Policy in Geneva, Jaishankar said there has been "some progress" with China on the boundary issue. He said that approximately 75 per cent of the "disengagement" problems have been resolved. Ties between India and China have been at an all-time low as the militaries of both nations have been standing their ground since the standoff in Ladakh began in May 2020. The disengagement process began in February 2021 and has been on since. The Minister further said that the economic relationship with China has been "very unfair" and "unbalanced". But he has maintained that India is not closed for business with China. |
