Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal has stressed that the prime minister’s arrival in Kiev does not signal a departure from a ‘neutral’ strategy
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kiev does not signal a departure from New Delhi’s neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal has stressed in an interview with RT.
Modi arrived in Kiev on Friday, marking the first ever visit of an Indian prime minister to the nation. During his trip, Modi will meet Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to discuss bilateral ties and ways to resolve the ongoing conflict.
While the trip is widely seen by experts as part of India’s “balancing act,” given that last month Modi visited Moscow for a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which draw criticism from both Ukraine and the West, Sibal asserted that New Delhi is not playing anybody’s “game.”
“We are playing our own game in the sense what we perceive is in our national interest and our global position and our position in the Global South,” he added.
According to the former diplomat, the “entire design” of the West is to drive a wedge between Russia and India and “to convey that somehow India was moving away from its strong position of neutrality in this conflict.” Sibal has also suggested that if the West wanted to “actually resolve” the conflict through diplomacy, it could “easily” negotiate with Russia.
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Sibal argued that it would be “incorrect” to perceive that the purpose of Modi’s Ukraine visit is to broker peace, as he does not believe India is “in a mediation mode at all.” Modi himself stressed ahead of the visit that he will be sharing “perspectives” on the peaceful resolution of the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev with Zelensky, reiterating India’s stance that a resolution can only be achieved through diplomacy, and not “on battlefield.” Bloomberg earlier reported that Modi would be willing to “relay communications” between Kiev and Moscow, rather than attempting to mediate.
Speaking to RT, Sibal noted that the timing and purpose of Modi’s visit has been “somewhat derailed” by Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region. Kiev sent thousands of troops supported by NATO-supplied tanks and armored vehicles into the region earlier this month, marking its largest cross-border operation against Russia to date. Moscow has declared the incursion an act of terrorism and has deployed additional troops to repel the invaders.