Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke on phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and reiterated his stand that dialogue and diplomacy was the only way forward to resolve the nearly 10-month-old Ukraine conflict, the Indian government said.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, claiming it is a special military operation that was necessary to prevent Kyiv from being used as a platform for Western aggression. But, Kyiv and its Western allies have dismissed these arguments as baseless pretext for a war.
Western analysts say Russia’s war in Ukraine has been losing momentum now. However, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has told The Guardian that there is evidence of Russia planning a broad new offensive, possibly early next year.
In September, Modi had told Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan that the present situation was not a time for war.
In response, the Russian president had said that he understood Modi’s concerns about the Ukraine war. “We want all of this to end as soon as possible,” he had said.
But there are currently no talks aimed at ending the conflict.
On Friday, a statement from the prime minister’s office said that the two leaders “reviewed several aspects of the bilateral relationship, including energy cooperation, trade and investments, defence and security cooperation, and other key areas” following the meeting on the sidelines of the regional security bloc summit.
Modi also briefed Putin about India’s ongoing Presidency of the G-20, highlighting its key priorities, the statement added.
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