External affairs minister S Jaishankar said Sunday India’s approach to the Russia-Ukraine war had moved beyond just the advocacy of dialogue and diplomacy between the 2 countries, suggesting India might be looking to actively mediate in the conflict. Both Moscow and Kyiv have said in the past few days that India had come up with ideas and proposals to bring the war to an end.Unlike China and other countries that have looked to mediate, India had so far offered support for all global peace initiatives – advocating engagement between the involved parties – but without introducing any signature proposal. This approach was anchored in its own emphasis on bilateralism in resolving disputes between countries.Offering a teaser about India’s proposal, Jaishankar said India is looking to address some immediate concerns that both Russia and Ukraine have on “grain exports, energy exports, non-attack possibilities”.“We would like to see an end to this conflict. This will require dialogue and diplomacy. We have been advocating it for many years, and in recent months we have got a little bit more involved beyond advocacy. We have conversations with both Russia and Ukraine in this regard. We are trying to be helpful, starting with the Black Sea safety of shipping issue,” said the minister, speaking at the Munich Leaders Meeting here.Jaishankar had himself said during his visit to Ukraine last month – shortly after PM Narendra Modi’s message to President Vladimir to stop the “endless war – that India was discussing ideas that could be developed for cessation of hostilities. On Friday, while Putin had announced Modi had very good ideas for peace, Ukraine foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said India had come up with the “broadest” peace proposal out of the 4 that it had received from other countries, including the US.This shift in India’s position seems driven by the direct domestic fallout of the conflict, whether it’s commercial shipping disruptions in the Black Sea or an intense blowback from the US over India’s continued purchase of Russian crude.In his remarks – not for the first time – Jaishankar stressed that Russia had stood by India when the latter’s security and territorial integrity was threatened and that India’s current approach to Moscow is shaped by the legacy.“At a time when much of the world preferred backing a military regime next to us (Pakistan), Russia was a country with which our relations were very good, and we are shaped in many ways by that legacy,” he said.On the US, Jaishankar said that the world today was marked by a radical repositioning of the US which had deliberately chosen to become a “lonelier power” and also the rise of China.
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“The current system was significantly underwritten by the United States. That underwriting is diluting. There are gaps which have emerged,” he said.The minister underlined that the sharp competition between the US and China was not limited to these 2 countries alone. “It has led to weaponization of any leverage that any country has. And that competition coexists with the complexity of interdependence,” said the minister.
