C. Uday Bhaskar

Opinion | India and China continue to walk a fine line over Russia’s war in Ukraine

Modi’s visit to Kyiv was an extension of India’s deft diplomacy since the war began. China, too, is carefully calibrating its position

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C. Uday Bhaskar

Published: 5:30am, 29 Aug 2024Updated: 11:12am, 29 Aug 2024

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on August 23 in Kyiv, the media played up photographs of Modi giving Zelensky his traditional bear hug. Zelensky said on X (formerly Twitter) that with Modi’s first visit to Ukraine as prime minister “history was made”, and that India supports “Ukraine’s independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty”.

While this might suggest Modi’s visit to Kyiv was a case of India supporting Ukraine in the festering war that is now in its 30th month, Modi himself was less direct on India’s position on Russia’s aggression. He said: “We have stayed away from the war with great conviction. This does not mean that we were indifferent. We were not neutral from day one, we have taken a side, and we stand firmly for peace.”

Modi’s visit is an extension of India’s deft and delicate diplomatic balancing act since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, an act Moscow described at the time as a “special military operation”.

India has steadfastly refrained from criticising Russia for its actions but has also upheld international law and the United Nations Charter, urging both sides to engage in dialogue and diplomacy to end the conflict. This was the gist of Modi’s message; the subtext was the need to assuage US concerns that New Delhi has been uncritically pro-Russia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embraces Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the entrance to the Mariinskyi Palace in Kyiv on August 23. Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/AFP

The Kyiv trip followed Modi’s July visit to Moscow, where his embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin elicited considerable criticism. At the time, Zelensky caustically wrote: “It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day”, referring to a Russian attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv the day Modi arrived in Russia.