Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has refused to go along with economic sanctions on Russia, will visit Ukraine later this week.
It will be his first trip to the country since Russia invaded in February 2022, and it follows his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month.
India’s foreign ministry also announced on Aug. 19 that Modi will visit Poland on Aug. 21 and 22 before traveling to Kyiv.
The announcement comes as the Ukrainian army continues its incursion into Russia, around the city of Kursk.
Ukraine launched the surprise incursion on Aug. 6 and has taken dozens of square miles of territory within Russia proper and captured a number of Russian troops.
But further south, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, Russian troops are advancing toward the city of Pokrovsk.
Modi’s visit to Ukraine will be the first visit by an Indian prime minister since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to the ministry.
“[The] prime minister’s engagements in Kyiv will touch a range of aspects of bilateral ties including political, trade, economic, investments, education, cultural, people-to-people exchanges, humanitarian assistance and others,” the statement reads.
“[The] prime minister will also interact with [the] Indian community, including students during the visit. [The] PM’s landmark visit to Ukraine will help further consolidation and expansion of bilateral ties.”
In September 2022, the Group of Seven (G7) agreed to cap the price of Russian oil, and then in February 2023, it banned Russian oil imports altogether.
The G7 is made up of the United States, the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan.
However, India, which buys 35 percent of Russia’s crude oil exports, has refused to join in the oil sanctions and remains one of Moscow’s biggest trading partners.
Modi met with Putin in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September 2022 during a meeting of China’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization and reiterated his call for “an early cessation of hostilities and the need for dialogue and diplomacy.”
However, Putin ignored his calls and instead doubled down on the war, leading to the capture of the city of Mariupol in February 2023 and Kherson the following month.
The Russians have since withdrawn from Kherson and have struggled to break down the strong Ukrainian defenses in the south and east of the country.
‘Diplomacy and Dialogue Can Resolve This Conflict’
Tanmaya Lal, secretary of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, was quoted in The Times of India on Aug. 19 as saying: “India has maintained a very clear and consistent position that diplomacy and dialogue can resolve this conflict and which can lead to enduring peace, so dialogue is absolutely essential.“Lasting peace can only be achieved through options that are acceptable to both parties and it can only be a negotiated settlement. On our part, India continues to engage with all stakeholders.”
It is not clear if Modi sees the Kyiv visit on Aug. 23 as the start of a peace initiative.
But Rahul Shivshankar, author of a book about Modi, suggested that New Delhi could be seen as a trusted third party by both Moscow and Kyiv.
On Aug. 19, he wrote on social media platform X: “With this visit, just weeks after spending time with President Putin, PM Modi will prove that Bharat [India] is today accepted as a credible interlocutor for peace in both the East and the West.”
“No nation enjoys such goodwill on both sides of the fence.
“Credit must go to the doctrine of ’strategic autonomy' honed under PM Modi’s watch.”
Since its birth as a nation in 1947, India has sought to maintain a close relationship with the Soviet Union and, later, Russia while maintaining good relations with the United States.
India’s Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the Indian government kept its links with Russia and became a key importer of Russian gas and oil.
