In Tokyo on July 29 for a meeting of the four-nation Quad—U.S., India, Japan and Australia—India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reported that his government intends to spend more time in the future speaking with the governments of Ukraine and Russia to seek a diplomatic solution to the war between them, NDTV reported. This is not a situation that will be resolved on the battlefield, he replied to a reporter at the Japan National Press Club. In fact, it would be “fatalistic,” he said, to just let the situation take its course and expect that some situation elsewhere in the world will help end the crisis.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent two days in Moscow July 8-9, where he was warmly welcomed by Vladimir Putin—much to the chagrin of the West—and engaged in intense discussion on the global strategic crisis, international development goals and regional cooperation. Modi is now scheduled to visit Kyiv sometime in August. “I can reasonably expect that there will be more contacts between us and Ukraine and between us and Russia as well,” Jaishankar said, responding to a question about Modi’s upcoming visit. He didn’t elaborate, however, explaining “we, like any government, make our positions known at the right time through the right channels.”
