PRIME Minister Narendra Modi will visit Ukraine, the country’s foreign ministry said, weeks after Kyiv condemned him for hugging President Vladimir Putin during a visit to traditional ally Russia.
New Delhi’s foreign ministry did not give a date for the visit to Poland and Ukraine, but Indian media reports suggest it will take place later this week.
Modi has trod a delicate balance between maintaining his country’s historically warm ties with Moscow while courting closer security partnerships with Western nations as a bulwark against regional rival China.
His government has avoided explicit condemnations of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the more than two years since the conflict began, instead urging both sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.
Modi’s July visit to Moscow came hours after a Russian barrage hit multiple cities across Ukraine, killing more than three dozen people and heavily damaging a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
Modi was pictured hugging Putin a day earlier, drawing condemnation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
India and Russia have maintained close links since the Cold War, which saw the Kremlin become a key arms provider to the country.
Since the Ukraine conflict began Russia has also become a major supplier of cut-price crude oil to India, providing a much-needed export market after the imposition of Western sanctions.
But Russia’s war has also had a human cost for India.
New Delhi has pushed Moscow to return several of its citizens who signed up for “support jobs” with the Russian military, but were later sent to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine. At least five Indians have died in the conflict.
Western powers have cultivated stronger relations with India as a hedge against China and its growing influence across the Asia-Pacific region, while pressuring New Delhi to distance itself from Russia. — AFP
