New Delhi: India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar has written on X that he has had open and wide-ranging conversation with his Ukraine counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on the afternoon of March 29.
Jaishankar posted that their discussions “focused on the ongoing conflict and its wider ramifications”.
Al Jazeera notes that the Russia Ukraine war has been on for 764 days.
“Exchanged views on various initiatives in that context,” Jaishankar added.
Kuleba arrived in Indian on March 28. Kuleba and Jaishankar had spoken earlier this year amidst heightened bombardment, about “Russia’s recent escalation of terror and mass air attacks, which caused civilian suffering and destruction”.
Jaishankar wrote that the two ministers also spoke on global and regional issues of interest to both countries and reiterated commitment to “strengthen the overall relationship, including bilateral cooperation.”
‘Legacy’
Meanwhile, the Financial Times has reported that Kuleba issued a warning to New Delhi, saying that India’s close ties with Russia are based on a “Soviet legacy” that is “evaporating”.
Kuleba told the paper: “The co-operation between India and Russia is largely based on the Soviet legacy. But this is not the legacy that will be kept for centuries; it is a legacy that is evaporating.”
Shortly after Russian president Vladimir Putin won a fifth term in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to congratulate him. Reports said he them followed it up with a phone call to Ukraine president Vlodymyr Zelenskyy to convey India’s “consistent support” for the end of the conflict.
Kuleba also told FT that India should be concerned about Russia’s deepening ties with China.
