India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said on Sunday that New Delhi had moved from urging diplomacy to holding direct conversations with both Russia and Ukraine, as it seeks a greater role in ending the war. Speaking at a Munich Leaders’ Meeting in New Delhi, he said the contacts were under way.
“Our position on that conflict has been very clear, which is that we'd like to see an end to this conflict, and we believe that this will require dialogue and diplomacy,” Jaishankar said.
India has pressed for a settlement through dialogue and diplomacy for over four years. Jaishankar said the country had become more directly engaged in recent months: “We have been advocating it for many years, and in recent months we have got a little bit more involved beyond advocacy, so we have conversations with both Russia and Ukraine in this regard.”
He said India was “trying to be helpful, starting with the Black Sea safety of shipping.” The discussions also covered grain and energy exports and “on non-attack possibilities”, he said. “Ongoing conversations right now,” was how he described the contacts.
The focus on Black Sea shipping follows Russian attacks on shipping and port infrastructure that have hampered food exports from the region. During Jaishankar’s September visit to Kyiv, he and Ukrainian officials discussed recent attacks on Black Sea shipping and port infrastructure.
Jaishankar’s trip was his first solo visit to Ukraine and was described as the first standalone visit to independent Ukraine by an Indian foreign minister. He met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and has repeatedly described Russia’s actions as war.
India’s diplomatic activity has also involved its relationship with Moscow. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin met in New Delhi in September. Modi separately told Putin at the Bishkek SCO summit that it was time to move from “endless war” to “end of war”.
Putin later said Modi had “good ideas” for finding a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict. Modi had also visited Kyiv in 2024.
On Friday, Sybiha said Kyiv had received separate proposals for a possible ceasefire from India and three other nations. Jaishankar has said India is ready to play any part that could help bring peace.
New Delhi’s position is shaped as well by its energy interests. Jaishankar has defended India’s purchases of cheap Russian energy as an obligation to the country’s 1.4bn people.
The talks are taking place after earlier rounds failed to produce tangible progress, with Moscow unwilling to drop its maximalist conditions for ending the fighting. US-led efforts have also largely stalled as Washington has shifted attention to other priorities, while Ukraine says Russia has intensified aerial attacks across the country.
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