Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called for peace between Ukraine and Russia as he left for Kyiv, after angering the Ukrainian President by embracing Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow recently.
Modi, 73, is due to meet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Poland on Thursday before travelling to Ukraine on Friday, where he is also scheduled to meet with Zelensky.
"As a friend and partner, we hope for a speedy return to peace and stability in the region," Modi said on social media, as quoted by French news agency AFP.
Modi is balancing India's historically strong ties with Russia with the pursuit of closer security partnerships with Western countries as a bulwark against regional rival China.
This is the first time an Indian prime minister has visited Kyiv and therefore Modi's first visit to Ukraine since the war with Russia began in February 2022.
"I look forward to building on previous talks with President Zelensky," he said in a statement released by his office, quoted by Spanish news agency EFE.
The Indian prime minister said he wanted to “strengthen bilateral cooperation and share perspectives on a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine”.
The Indian prime minister has had several telephone conversations with Zelensky since the start of the war, the last of which was in March this year. In the same month, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited New Delhi and met with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in a conversation that focused on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Modi’s visit to Moscow in early July came just hours after a massive Russian strike hit several Ukrainian cities, killing dozens of people and severely damaging a children’s hospital in Kyiv. The previous day, Modi was photographed hugging Putin, which outraged Zelensky, with Kyiv calling the gesture a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts”.
Modi has avoided explicitly condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine since the conflict began more than two years ago, calling on both sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.
New Delhi abstained from voting on UN resolutions targeting Moscow.
Before Ukraine, Modi is expected in Warsaw today to mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Poland.
"Our mutual commitment to democracy and pluralism further strengthens our relations," said Modi, who will meet Polish President Andrzej Duda and Donald Tusk.
The second leg of his Eastern Europe trip will follow on Friday with a visit to Kyiv.
According to the Indian government, the visit "will open the door to negotiations on all aspects of the bilateral relationship" between India and Ukraine, including defence.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, New Delhi became the largest market for Russian oil, taking advantage of discounts offered by Moscow to cope with international sanctions.
The relationship between the two powers became close during the Cold War, when Moscow was almost the only arms seller to New Delhi, supplying up to 85% of India's defense purchases.
The Asian country has not yet managed to reverse this dependence, according to EFE.
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