Need For Both Parties To Be Present While Discussing Peace Talks: India On Ukraine-Russia Conflict

Switzerland hosted a peace summit for Ukraine last weekend which was attended by world leaders from more than 80 countries including representatives from Latin America, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the Pacific, North America and religious leaders. They gathered to show support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” and discuss strategies aimed at de-escalating conflict to secure lasting peace in the region. 

India's delegation was also present at the summit’s key sessions including the Opening and Closing Plenary Sessions of the Summit. However, they chose not to formally endorse or agree to any official statements or outcomes produced at the event and decided to maintain a neutral stance. 

The Ministry of External Affairs stated that this was in line with their consistent approach to facilitate a lasting and peaceful resolution to the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy. It emphasised that to facilitate peaceful resolution to the conflict, engagement with all stakeholders is necessary and Russia’s absence hindered sincere and practical engagement between Ukraine and Russia. 

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, also added that Russia’s participation was important in discussing peace talks for it to be truly productive. 

Until this war is resolved, India pledges to continuously “engage with all stakeholders as well as both the parties” to aid in ending the conflict. 

Many countries extended their support to Ukraine's "territorial integrity" as the Summit came to a close and it was advocated that all parties involved should sit and negotiate to find a sustainable solution so that peace can be attained with the end of the conflict. 

This development follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently engaging in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy that PM Modi quoted in a post on X to be a “very productive meeting”. 

He further expressed his desire to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Ukraine. Addressing the ongoing hostilities, PM Modi reiterated that India believes in a human-centric approach and believes that the way to peace is through dialogue and diplomacy.