Vienna/New Delhi, July 10 (UNI) India has said that it is ready for whatever role it can play to end the Ukraine conflict, but ultimately the two countries – Ukraine and Russia – have to sit across and talk peace. This comes as Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that India has a crucial role to play in helping end the Ukraine conflict.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in a post on X said that his country is ready to be a venue for peace talks, and it is not a member of NATO.
“Prime Minister @narendramodi and I agree: The West and the countries of the global South must combine forces to further pursue the path chosen at the peace summit in Switzerland. Also in this regard, India has a crucial role. The war in the Ukraine must end; Austria will make every possible effort and is also ready to serve as a venue for dialog.”
Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, in his press briefing, said that right from the start of the Ukraine conflict PM Modi has been “strongly engaged with both sides and actively engaged in peace efforts” of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He said that even at the Bürgenstock peace meet, India had articulated the need for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict.
He said that PM Modi met with the Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines at the G7 in Italy, and met with the Russian President Putin yesterday and the day before. “All through this engagement, including numerous phone calls, in physical meetings and phone calls, we have been urging -- our message has always been that you need to find a way through dialogue and diplomacy, and offered all support from our side.
"And it is for the two sides to work it out and talk about it; that is our view. We have been extremely consistent about this in private and public articulation, and have offered our readiness to play whatever role to find peaceful resolution to the conflict,” the FS said.
Kwatra said the ongoing conflict poses challenges to the Global South and the larger stability of the region. “Whatever is needed to be done through dialogue and diplomacy is what we’ve believed in. And this is something which has come across a deep sense of belief, not limited to articulation, in PM Modi’s articulation of whatever role India can play. But ultimately the two countries have to sit across and talk,” he added.
Kwatra said that “India as a very responsible and peace-loving member of the global community has said this -- that very few countries have said, that solutions cannot be found on the battlefield, and said this to the Russian president.”
Asked what PM Modi had shared with the Austrian Chancellor of his meeting with the Russian President in Moscow, the FS said that they are not privy to private conversations. “Our perspective, how we look at it, the overall sense of it, the challenges it throws up, has been said very publicly.”
In his address after holding delegation level talks with PM Modi, the Austrian Chancellor referred several times to the Ukraine conflict and PM Modi’s meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Nehammer said that it was important to get PM Modi’s “assessment about the intentions of Russia concerning the peace process” and that it is Austria’s and India’s “shared goal” to enable “a comprehensive, just and durable peace in accordance with the UN Charter” in Ukraine.
He also said that his cabinet is in constant contact with the EU about PM Modi’s visit and he talked with President of the European Council Charles Michel yesterday to inform him personally.
He said that he considered it “an important and significant sign” that India, as a founding member of BRICS, had taken part in the Ukraine peace summit in Bürgenstock, and that he had talked with Prime Minister Modi about “an even stronger involvement and possibilities to get the peace process going in principle”.
The Chancellor also underlined India’s special role in the Global South and said that India has an important role to play concerning “the peace process and future peace summits”. He said “Austria will be available as a reliable partner and a place for dialogue". Nehammer underlined Austria’s special role as a “bridgebuilder”, that is part of the EU but not part of any military alliance.
UNI RN