India sharing info between Russia and Ukraine; hoping to usher in peace: EAM Jaishankar

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar speaks in New York on September 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Russia-Ukraine war is not going to be resolved on the battlefield, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Tuesday (September 24, 2024), adding that the government was speaking to both sides to see if it could do anything to hasten the end of the war and initiate serious negotiations between the two countries.

“This is a kind of exploration that we have been doing. I mean, it’s not that we have a peace plan,” Mr. Jaishankar said during a discussion at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.

The Minister said the government was sharing conversations it had with one party with the other.

“My sense is both sides appreciate it,” he said, adding that there were not many countries and leaders who had the willingness or ability to engage both sides.

His remarks came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy along the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly session. Mr Modi was in Kyiv at the end of August, after which he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as U.S. President Joe Biden. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had also met with Mr Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting in St. Petersburg earlier this month.