Washington, DC [US], October 1 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, opened up on India's position in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and said that New Delhi is playing its role in the resolution of the conflict by assisting in communication between the two sides.
The Foreign Minister, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visits, emphasised that there are not many leaders who can visit both Russia and Ukraine and hold talks with their leaders. PM Modi visited Russia in July and Ukraine in August this year.
He was speaking at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment in the United States on Tuesday.
"Our public position is we do not believe that...differences or disputes between countries can be settled by war. A second public position is we do not believe that we can actually get from the battlefield a decisive outcome. So if you take 2-3 years, if you're not going to get a decisive outcome, at some point, in some form, there has to be a negotiation. If there is a negotiation, whenever we get there, then obviously there has to be some preparation or some exploration and some communication between the parties concerned," Jaishankar said.
Notably, India has maintained a firm position in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
New Delhi has emphasised the need for sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that will have broad acceptability and contribute towards the early restoration of peace in the Ukraine conflict that started in February 2022.
In a major statement, PM Modi told President Putin that "this is not the era of war" on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan in 2022. The statement even made to the G20 communique under the presidency of India.
EAM Jaishankar highlighted Prime Minister Modi's visit to Russia and Ukraine this year, in addition to several other engagements at different levels. The Foreign Minister said, India wants to assist in communication between Moscow and Kyiv, adding that at no point New Delhi wants to hype the situation.
"Prime Minister Modi's visit to Moscow, then after that, the trip that we made to Kyiv, after which our National Security Advisor went back to Moscow, after which Prime Minister met Zelenskyy last week in New York, and in between, at different levels, our national security advisor or some other people. We keep talking to both sides as well, measured and circumspect about what we are doing, we are not hyping it," the EAM said.
"Our other effort is to have communications, take anything of interest that we have a conversation, take anything of interest, be here to the other side, communicate that in good faith. If there are reactions or ideas on that side, take it back. We are not...it's really, the intent is to be hyping. And to some extent, we have to keep other people informed that whether it is necessary, we do that as well," he added.
He further stressed that there are not many countries who can visit the two capitals -- Moscow and Kyiv, while further emphasising that India doesn't have any 'peace plan' as of such, but is only trying to do something helpful in the resolution of the conflict.
"So there are not many countries today who have still the ability to go to these two capitals, talk to the two leaders, and then go back to the other one with that. I think in any conflict, if the intention at some point is to end the conflict, it is such endeavours are useful. I would say they're even more valuable," Jaishankar said.
"We are simply trying to do something helpful, reflecting the widespread anxiety in the world that this conflict is actually making everybody's life very difficult," he added.