Kyiv:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday invited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit India and the Ukrainian leader said he would be happy to travel to the “great” country.

PM Modi invited Zelenskyy during his wide-ranging talks with the Ukrainian President.

Prime Minister Modi paid a nearly nine-hour visit to Kyiv in the first-ever trip to Ukraine by an Indian PM since it became independent over three decades back.

At a media briefing following the talks between the two leaders, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar confirmed that PM Modi invited Zelenskyy to visit India.

“It’s significant that our prime minister has visited Ukraine for the first time since 1992. It is natural on such occasions that he extends an invitation, which he did in this case,” he said.

“So we expect that at some point, as per his convenience, President Zelenskyy will visit India,” Mr Jaishankar added.

A joint statement also said that PM Modi invited Zelenskyy to visit India at a mutually convenient opportunity.

Asked at a media briefing on Modi’s invitation, Zelenskyy said he would be happy to come to India.

“Yes because when you begin a strategic partnership, and you begin some dialogue, I think that you don’t need to waste time and do a big pause and that’s why I think it will be good to meet together again,” he said.

The Ukrainian President also said he wants India to be on the side of his country.

“I read a lot about your big and great country. It’s very interesting,” he said, adding “I very much need your country on our side.” “I will be happy to come to India as soon as your government and prime minister will be ready to see me,” Zelenskyy said.

At the same time, he suggested the visit will also depend on the situation in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Mr Jaishankar, in response to a question, said that India’s energy trade with Russia also came up for discussion.

“Yes, it did. I wouldn’t say at great length, but what we did was to explain to the Ukrainian side what was the energy market scenario, the fact that today many energy producers are sanctioned, making the market potentially very tight; and why actually today there is a compulsion, in fact not just a compulsion, I mean why it is in the interest of the international economy as a whole, that oil prices remain reasonable and stable,” he said.

India, the world’s third largest oil-consuming and importing nation, in July bought USD 2.8 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, second only to China which remains the largest importer of Russian oil, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a report.

Russia emerged as India’s biggest supplier of crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, after Russian oil became available at a discount following some European nations shunning purchases from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Imports from Russia, which were less than one per cent of the total oil imported in the pre-Ukraine war period, now make up for almost 40 per cent of India’s total oil purchases.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a nearly seven-hour visit to Kyiv this week, India on Monday said it is willing to provide all possible support required to help find a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), announcing PM Modi’s August 23 trip, said it would be a “landmark and historic” visit, the first by an Indian prime minister to Ukraine since diplomatic ties were established between the two countries over 30 years back.

The Prime Minister will travel to Kyiv from Poland in a train that will take around 10 hours. The return trip will also be of the same duration, people familiar with the matter said.

A number of world leaders including US President Joe Biden also travelled to Kyiv by train from the Polish train station near the Ukrainian border.

Before travelling to Ukraine, PM Modi will pay a two-day visit to Poland on August 21 and 22.

The prime minister’s visit to Ukraine is taking place amid Kyiv’s fresh military offensive into Russian territory.

PM Modi’s visit to Kyiv comes weeks after his high-profile trip to Moscow that triggered criticism from the US and some of its Western allies.

“India has substantive and independent ties with both Russia and Ukraine and these partnerships stand on their own,” Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) in the MEA said at a media briefing.

The visit will build on continuing engagement between India and Ukraine, he said.

“I would like to say that this is not a zero-sum game. The prime minister had also travelled to Russia. Many ideas were discussed,” Lal said.

“The prime minister also met President Zelenskyy on a couple of occasions in the last one year or so and they will now be meeting again in Ukraine,” he said.

“I would like to say that these are independent broad ties and of course the ongoing conflict will form part of the discussions,” he added.

Asked about the conflict in Ukraine, Lal said: “India is willing to provide all possible support and contribution required to help find peaceful solutions to this complex issue.” At the same time, he declined to anticipate or prejudge the outcome of the talks between PM Modi and Mr Zelenskyy.

“India has maintained a very clear and consistent position that diplomacy and dialogue can resolve this conflict which can lead to enduring peace,” Lal said.

“So dialogue is absolutely essential. Lasting peace can only be achieved through options that are acceptable to both parties and it can only be a negotiated settlement. India continues to engage with all stakeholders,” he said.

Lal also noted that India has consistently been advocating for diplomacy and dialogue to reach a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine conflict.

“Prime Minister Modi said this is not the time for war. Solutions cannot be found on the battlefield. This is a clear and consistent position that India has taken and we believe that a vast majority of countries share this view,” Lal said.

On India’s ties with Ukraine, he said the relationship is “continuous and long-standing”.

“It is a landmark and historic visit since this will be the first time that an Indian prime minister will be visiting Ukraine in more than 30 years since the diplomatic relations were established between the two countries,” Lal said.

He said Modi-Zelenskyy talks are expected to focus on the entire gamut of India-Ukraine ties including in areas of agriculture, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, health and education, defence, and people-to-people ties.

Asked whether India is interested in reconstruction of Ukraine, Lal said New Delhi is willing to provide all support and contribution that may be required not only to find a peaceful solution to the conflict but also in the recovery process.

PM Modi held talks with Mr Zelenskyy in June on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy’s Apulia.

In the meeting, PM Modi conveyed to the Ukranian president that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict and that the way to peace is through “dialogue and diplomacy”.

PM Modi also told Mr Zelenskyy that India believes in a “human-centric” approach to find a solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

In the meeting, the Ukranian president invited the prime minister to visit Kyiv

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday will make his first visit to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, walking a fine line between maintaining a longstanding Moscow alliance while courting closer Western security ties.

Russia is a key supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but its isolation from the West and growing friendship with China have impacted its time-honoured partnership with New Delhi.

The United States and its Western allies have in recent years cultivated ties with India as a bulwark against Beijing and its growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, while also pressuring it to distance itself from Russia.

PM Modi, who was returned to power last month as leader of the world’s most populous country, last visited Russia in 2019 and hosted President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi two years later, weeks before the invasion.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has “transformed” ties with India, said Swasti Rao, from a think tank funded by India’s defence ministry, the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

“There is no decline in goodwill between India and Russia per se,” she said. “But there are challenges that have cropped up.

“These are external factors, which have been strong enough to bring in a paradigm shift in India-Russia bilateral issues,” she added.

Nandan Unnikrishnan of the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation said the upcoming in-person meeting showed the two sides were looking for ways forward.

“There have been pressures on India, and there have been pressures on the India-Russia relationship,” Unnikrishnan said.

“Face-to-face interactions help in working out positions,” he added. “I’m sure Mr Modi would like an assessment from Putin on the Ukraine war.”

‘Ship has sailed’

New Delhi has shied away from explicit condemnation of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and has abstained on United Nations resolutions censuring Moscow.

But Russia’s war in Ukraine has also had a human cost for India.

New Delhi said in February it was pushing Russia to release some of its citizens who had signed up for “support jobs” with the Russian military, following reports some were killed after being forced to fight in Ukraine.

Moscow’s deepening ties with Beijing have also raised concerns for New Delhi.

China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.

India is part of the Quad grouping with the United States, Japan and Australia that positions itself against China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.

The United States and the European Union accuse China of selling components and equipment that have strengthened Russia’s military industry — allegations Beijing strenuously denies.

That leaves India with a dilemma.

Their “relationship has to evolve”, said Ms Rao.

“Some say India should strongly engage with Russia so it doesn’t fall into the lap of China,” said Ms Rao. “Others would say, that ship has sailed.”

New Delhi and Moscow have forged a tight relationship since the Cold War, and Russia was for a long time India’s biggest arms supplier.

But Ukraine has stretched Russia’s arms supplies, and India is eyeing other sources — including growing its own defence industry.

Russia’s share of Indian imports of weapons has shrunk considerably in recent years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

It dropped from 76 percent in 2009-13 to 36 percent in 2019-23, SIPRI said, noting France is now a close second, providing 33 percent.

“India has instead looked to Western suppliers, most notably France and the USA, and its own arms industry,” SIPRI said, adding that its arms procurement plans “seemingly do not include any Russian options”.

Arms down, oil up

Ms Rao said the Ukraine war had “accelerated” India’s push to diversify its defence purchases.

“The Ukraine war has become one of grinding attrition,” she said.

“There are genuine concerns about Russia’s export capabilities, and its focus and priorities.”

At the same time, India has also become a major buyer of discounted Russian oil, providing a much-needed export market for Moscow after it was cut off from traditional buyers in Europe.

That has dramatically reshaped energy ties, with India saving itself billions of dollars while bolstering Moscow’s war coffers.

India’s month-on-month imports of Russian crude “increased by eight percent in May, to the highest levels since July 2023”, according to commodity tracking data compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

“Russian crude comprised 41 percent of India’s total crude imports in May, and with new agreements in place to conduct payments in rubles, the trade might grow significantly,” the research centre said.

But this has also resulted in India’s trade deficit with Russia rising to a little over $57 billion in the past financial year.

From Moscow, Modi will travel to Vienna for the first visit to the Austrian capital by an Indian leader since Indira Gandhi in 1983.

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)