Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, in what appears as a clear indication of India's stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The meeting reportedly lasted for 40 minutes. Lavrov briefed the PM on the situation in Ukraine, including the ongoing peace negotiations. The prime minister reiterated his call for an early cessation of violence, and conveyed India's readiness to contribute in any way to the peace efforts, the prime minister's office said.
The Russian foreign minister also updated Modi on the progress of decisions taken during the India-Russia bilateral Summit held in December 2021.
In the past few weeks, diplomats from everywhere have been coming to New Delhi. For some, the reason for the visit is clearly stated—it is about the developments in Ukraine and India's position on it. UK's foreign secretary Liz Truss and the US's Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh made the purpose of their visit clear—to get India on their side.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit may not have been overtly about Ukraine. There are enough bilateral tensions to take care of the agenda of more than one meeting. The changing world order, however, was definitely a presence during their discussions.
The fact that among all these diplomats, only Lavrov met Modi is indicative of India's steadfast position on the Russia-Ukraine issue, and that India is no mood to be hush-hush about its position and its friendship.
Friday is a busy day with Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also making a state visit, his first foreign tour after taking over charge.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar openly reminded Truss a day earlier that the West had not severed its energy imports from Russia, in fact, the imports had only gone up in March. India, meanwhile, is traditionally reliant on the Middle East to meet the bulk of its energy demands.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine—what most believe was a totally unnecessarily war—is pushing countries across the world to take sides. The traditionally white world is together. Europe, which was rather divided over a number of issues, is in one voice against Russia, and speaking the US language, as is Australia. Asian nations, however, are not that clear in declaring their positions, with the exception of the two US allies, Japan and South Korea. Most of West Asia is trying not to take sides. Israel is in a tight spot, it has deep ties with Russia which go back to the Tsarist times. Ten per cent of Israelis speak Russian, many hold dual citizenships. Israel, however, has supported the US led resolutions across various fora in the United Nations, though it had offered itself for mediating the conflict. Turkey is the mediator of choice, though not much breakthrough has been made in the mediations.
China has found itself on the Russian side, largely by default than design.
India, however, has chosen to side with Russia, even though when it comes to resolutions, it has maintained a position of neutrality, choosing to abstain every time.
Russia has been a steadfast military partner for India, having staunchly been on the Indian side at times when India found itself isolated diplomatically. Russia kept quiet as India made new alliances with the US—the new military ties, as well as teaming up in the Quad at the level of heads of government, a plunge that India finally took after Galwan. Russia maintained that it understood India's position, even as it fumed about the Indo-Pacific being made into a zone of exclusivity. At that time, India had to take pains to convince Moscow that its ties with the US were not at the cost of its ties with Russia. Today, the proof is visible to all. India has let global criticism pass by, though most nations have been careful on not openly calling out India. Jaishankar and co have also made it clear how India's position is determined by what is best for the country and why others are not in a position to be reading out the scriptures to New Delhi.