New York: Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, set to address the US General Assembly (UNGA) session on September 28, had a flurry of meetings and events. During one of the meetings, he met Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He indicated that India is trying to see if it could involve the two countries in a peace effort. He said at the Asia Society, "We have been engaging both the Russian government and the Ukrainian government -- in Moscow and in Kyiv and in other places -- to see whether there is something we can do which would hasten the end of the conflict and initiate some kind of serious negotiation.”
He added that India was "sharing" with both countries the conversations it had with them and his sense was that "both sides appreciate it". New Delhi, which has historically had close diplomatic and strategic ties with Moscow, is forging an independent path open to the West giving it room to be a conduit between the two countries for peace diplomacy.
At a separate event, Jaishankar said that the relationship between India and China is “significantly disturbed,” noting that the primary issue currently is patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). “The main issue right now is patrolling—how both sides patrol up to the Line of Actual Control. The patrolling arrangements after 2020 have been disturbed,” he stated, referring to the Galwan Valley clash at the LAC four years ago.
Jaishankar was speaking at an event titled ‘India, Asia and the World,’ hosted by the Asia Society and the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. The Union Minister remarked that India has a “difficult history” with China, including the conflict in 1962.
