External affairs minister S Jaishankar , who attended the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting on Friday and Saturday in Atlanta, US, said India had discussed three aspects of the Ukraine conflict with Russia, Kyiv and European countries.
“I had gone earlier to Moscow, and even today I discussed it with Mr Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov), and then in between I had gone to Kyiv, and we are in touch with the Ukrainian side. He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed the conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to India in September for the 18th BRICS Summit. Notably, India has continued to engage with Russia and Ukraine through high-level diplomatic meetings and has consistently maintained that dialogue and diplomacy are essential to resolving international conflicts.
Because they have their own peace mediation initiative,” he said, we have also been coordinating this with the Americans.
Jaishankar, speaking to news agency ANI, said the discussions covered protecting civilian shipping and seafarers from attacks, restoring grain exports from Russia and Ukraine, and the third aspect was related to energy, which he said was the “most complicated”. He said India has been calling on the parties to address these issues. “Emphasised that in the face of global challenges, military solutions will not work and diplomacy must be given a chance,” Jaishankar said in a post on X, outlining points he made during the first plenary session hosted by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Jaishankar also met Polish deputy prime minister and foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski and held discussions focused on the Ukraine conflict, India-EU ties and the G20. India has lost 22 nationals, including 14 seafarers, in the West Asia war over the past eight months, the ministry of external affairs said earlier this week.
He said the Global South bears an unfair share of the impact of attacks on civilian shipping and seafarers, which threaten the affordability and availability of fuel, food and agricultural nutrients.
