New Delhi, Sep 25 (EFE).- India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Wednesday that India has been holding discussions with both Russia and Ukraine in an attempt to pave the way for a resolution of the conflict between them but clarified that New Delhi did not have a formal peace plan.
“We have been in engaging both with the Russian government and the Ukrainian government, in Moscow, in Kyiv and in other places, to see whether there is something we can do which would hasten the end of the conflict and initiate some kind of serious negotiation between them,” said the Indian foreign minister during a discussion at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, where he participating in the UN General Assembly.
These conversations, led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are “a kind of exploration that we have been doing. It’s not that we have a peace plan. We are not suggesting anything,” the Indian foreign minister said, adding that India has been sharing the details of these talks with the other side.
Jaishankar’s remarks come a day after Modi held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, their third this year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that China, Brazil and India could act as mediators in potential peace negotiations with Ukraine.
The relationship between New Delhi and Moscow came under the spotlight with the outbreak of the war, after Modi’s government decided to refrain from condemning Russia’s actions and boosted its trade relationship exponentially despite pressure from its Western allies.
A series of visits and communications by Modi and senior members of his government with both Putin and Zelenskyy in recent months has given rise to the idea that India is trying to play a mediating role in formal negotiations. EFE
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