New Delhi: It only speaks of India’s status in the comity of nations.
When asked if he thought there was still time for PM Narendra Modi to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war, a top US official said, “I think there’s still time for Vladimir Putin to stop the war. I’ll let Prime Minister Modi speak to whatever efforts he’s willing to undertake.”
The remarks came from National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby.
He was replying to a question during a press meet at the White House in Washington on February 10.
Of course, the query and the response gain prominence in light of India’s status as an ally of both the US and Russia as the Russia-Ukraine war approach its first anniversary.
John Kirby said the United States would welcome any effort to end the war if it met Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy’s objectives.
India has called for diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine war multiple times at UN meets and also otherwise.
During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in September 2022, PM Modi grabbed headlines when he told Putin that “today’s era is not an era of war”.
The Russian leader also responded by saying he knows India’s position on the conflict and “your concerns that you constantly express”.
Notably, Ukraine president Zelenskyy has put forth a series of demands for a peace accord, the primary of which is that Russia should withdraw all its troops from Ukraine’s territory. The ownership of the Crimean Peninsula, a disputed region that Russia annexed in 2014, is also a point of argument between the two nations, reports said.
In December last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his fourth round tele talk with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and both leaders discussed India’s support for the 10-point “peace formula” Zelensky had proposed during his recent US visit.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict started on February 24, 2022.
I had a phone call with @PMOIndia Narendra Modi and wished a successful #G20 presidency. It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula and now I count on India's participation in its implementation. I also thanked for humanitarian aid and support in the UN.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 26, 2022
After the phone conversation, Zelenskyy tweeted, “I had a phone call with @PMOIndia Narendra Modi and wished (for) a successful G-20 presidency. It was on this platform that I announced the peace formula and now I count on India’s participation in its implementation. I also thanked for humanitarian aid and support in the UN,” he had said.
