Roving Periscope: Are Jaishankar and Doval preparing the ground for the Russia-Ukraine peace meet?
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Russia and Ukraine in July and August, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, currently visiting various capitals, seem to be preparing the ground for a potential Russia-Ukraine peace meeting in India.
Without sharing details, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said on Thursday that NSA Ajit Doval met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg. Doval is currently in Russia to participate in the ongoing meeting of BRICS and BRICS Plus High-Level Security Officials, from September 10 to 12.
“NSA Doval met with President Putin. He has other engagements in Russia,” EAM spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, according to the media reports on Thursday.
Recently, President Vladimir Putin said that India, China, and Brazil could act as mediators in potential peace talks over Ukraine.
He had said a preliminary agreement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the first weeks of the war in 2022, in Istanbul, Turkey, which could not be implemented, may now serve as the basis for fresh talks.
According to reports, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to President Putin over a phone call in August, they discussed Doval’s visit and participation in the discussions on bringing about lasting peace in Ukraine.
Replying to a question at the weekly briefing, Jaiswal said that 6 Indians caught in the ongoing conflict were released by Russia recently.
The total number of Indians released from Russia so far has reached 45, and 50 more Indians will be released soon. Before the PM’s visit, 10 had already been discharged.
Meanwhile, EAM S. Jaishankar said in Berlin that Russia and Ukraine will have to resolve their conflict by negotiating off the battlefield and India is willing to advise them.
His remarks came when NSA Doval was in Moscow for a crucial meeting of NSAs. Doval is reportedly carrying a peace plan proposed by PM Modi.
During his August visit to Ukraine, PM Modi told President Volodymyr Zelensky that India is ever ready to play an “active role” in every effort to restore peace and he would like to contribute personally to ending the conflict.
He is perhaps one of the very few leaders who share friendly ties with both Presidents Putin and Zelensky who warmly welcomed him during his recent visits to their nations.
Speaking at the Annual Ambassadors’ Conference of the German Foreign Office in Berlin, a day after he held a “useful conversation” with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the margins of the India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dr. 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.”
He cited PM Modi’s recent visits to Russia and Ukraine and how the Indian leader had once told the Russian President that this was not “an era of war.”
“We don’t think you’re going to get a solution out of the battlefield. If you want advice, we are always willing to give it,” Dr. Jaishankar added.
He also spoke about Quad, which, he said, has been a successful experiment. Quad is a strategic security dialogue between India, the United States, Australia, and Japan.
“We have revived the Quad. It is a major diplomatic platform and India is committed to it,” he said.
Notably, President Putin said on Thursday that India is among the three countries he is constantly in touch with over the Ukraine conflict and that they are sincerely making efforts to resolve it.
“If there is a desire of Ukraine to carry on with the negotiations, I can do that.”
Putin’s remarks came within two weeks after PM Modi’s visit to Ukraine, where he held talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We respect our friends and partners, who, I believe, sincerely seek to resolve all issues surrounding this conflict, primarily India, China, and Brazil. I constantly keep in touch with our colleagues on this issue.”
Last week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the daily newspaper “Izvestia” that India could help in establishing a dialogue with Ukraine.
He spoke about the “highly constructive, even friendly relations” between PM Modi and President Putin and added the Indian leader can “lead the line on getting first-hand information from the participants in this conflict,” as he “freely communicates with Putin, Zelensky and the Americans.”
“This gives a great opportunity for India to throw its weight in world affairs, to use its influence that would drive the Americans and Ukrainians towards using a greater political will and entering the peaceful settlement track,” Peskov said, adding, however, that there are “no specific plans” for PM Modi to mediate on the issue.
PM Modi, on his visit to Ukraine last month, told President 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.
