“PM Modi’s visits to Russia and Ukraine are unique,” Ex IFS Officer Sachdev says

Mahesh Sachdev, Former IFS Officer said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visits to Ukraine and Russia were ‘unique’ because there are very few governments that have good ties with both the countries.

Speaking to ANI, Sachdev said that other countries’ peace-keeping talks with both countries have not succeeded, and it is yet to be seen if PM Modi’s talks bear fruit.

“One should say that the visit was probably unique from the global perspective where there are very few people who have retained good ties with Russia as well as Ukraine and there are even fewer heads of state and governments who have been able to visit both Moscow and Kyiv to hold talks since the conflict began. Perhaps the President of Turkey and the Prime Minister of Hungary are the two others. However, their approaches to peace-making between Ukraine and Russia have not succeeded. So it remains to be seen whether the Indian Prime Minister had any particular success in this regard or whether there is a formula that is evolving from this, these two initiative visits,” Sachdev said.

Sachdev said that PM Modi’s conversation with US President Joe Biden must have covered the PM’s Ukraine visit besides bilateral talks.

“The conversation that Prime Minister had yesterday…bilateral ties would have figured as well. The prime minister’s visit to Ukraine on the 23rd of this month was a historic landmark. It was the first time since Ukraine split from the USSR that an Indian Prime Minister had visited that country. At the same time, it was also in the context of a bitter conflict ongoing between Russia and Ukraine which has been being waged for over two and a half years now… I think the Prime Minister was received fairly well and therefore one should say that some remnant bitterness that was caused by his visit to Moscow last month in Kyiv seemed to have been mitigated. I imagine the Prime Minister would have informed President Joe Biden about his impressions of the visit,” he said.

Sachdev said that PM Modi conveyed that India was on the side of peace.

“The Prime Minister was in Russia last month and this was the first time he has visited Russia for nearly three years. So, there was some speculation about the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow and Kyiv being interlinked with peace-making or at least calming the situation down. The Prime minister emphasized that India was not neutral in the conflict. It was on the side of peace and wanted to do everything possible to restore peace and equanimity in that part of the world. One would like to also add that bilaterally, India’s ties with Ukraine are quite substantive. The bilateral trade is nearly USD 6 billion and is in Ukraine’s favour from where we import a lot of sunflower oil and other inputs… Our agreements were signed during the visit including facilitating India’s humanitarian supplies to the war-torn country,” Sachdev said.

Sachdev said that Biden and PM Modi must have also spoken about Bangladesh’s socioeconomic stability and Sheikh Hasina’s statement against the US.

“Turning to Bangladesh’s situation which has evolved since the beginning of the month, I think the two democracies, India and the United States, have a lot to share in terms of secularist credentials of the new government, in terms of economic and socioeconomic stability of that country, and how the radicalization of Bangladesh can be avoided. I think we have an important role to play as Bangladesh’s largest neighbour and traditional friend of that country. I imagine that the United States, which has been criticised by Sheikh Hasina for being responsible for her ouster, at least partially, would have had some statement from President to Prime Minister in this regard as well,” he said.

“As I have already mentioned, the visit to Moscow and his embrace of President Putin created some kind of bad blood in Kyiv. President Zelenskyy and Washington DC were displeased by this gesture. Now, having visited Kyiv and embraced President Zelenskyy as well, I think those doubts would have been settled. The President has mentioned that he would be looking forward to visiting India and would like to have the second Ukrainian peace conference in the global south. And India was a good candidate for that purpose. So it shows that the doubts in the mind of the leadership in Kyiv about India’s non-partisan role in this regard have been rested,” Sachdev said.

Sachdev said that even though the US took a partisan position in supporting Ukraine, it is interesting to see India’s strategy of balance of ties on the issue.

“The US is a superpower and it has an interest in all parts of the world. It has taken a fairly partisan position in supporting Ukraine with economic and military assistance and delivering diplomatic aid to sustain the Kyiv government against its war with Russia. Thanks to its supplies of equipment, etc, Kyiv has been able to get into the Kursk region and launch an offensive. So I would like to imagine that the visit, as observers themselves have said from the White House, from the state Department, are keenly watching the Prime Minister’s visit to Kyiv and they appreciate India’s strategic autonomy in this regard but would like to see, as they perceive greater balance in ties on this issue,” he said.