Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Tokyo on Saturday.
Notably, this is the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began on February 24 last year. The Ukrainian president is attending the summit at the invitation of Japan, the group’s current chair.
PM Modi has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as President Zelenskyy several times since the Ukraine conflict began. New Delhi has sought a diplomatic solution to the conflict, while Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin in September that it was no longer “an era of war.”
Prime Minister Modi’s appeal to President Putin for a “cessation of violence” and a return to the negotiating table was a step up from India’s earlier explicitly neutral stance, and carried a hint of the compulsions to get off the fence, while still largely maintaining a balance.
PM Modi’s phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored that Delhi will remain strategic ambivalent on the Ukraine crisis for the time being. This is a pragmatic choice, reflecting the complexities of a realist world and Delhi’s own positions on territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as its own concerns about its unresolved borders, in light of the country’s difficult relationship with its two northern neighbours.
On October 4, last year, PM Modi told President Zelenskyy by phone that there can be “no military solution” and that India is willing to contribute to any peace efforts. India has insisted that the crisis be resolved diplomatically and through dialogue.
Prime Minister Modi is in Japan for the Group of Seven (G7) summit. The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, invited the prime minister to visit the East Asian country.
As the current chair of the powerful grouping, Japan is hosting the G7 summit. PM Modi will attend the G7 summit in Hiroshima from May 19 to May 21. He is expected to speak about global issues such as food, fertiliser, and energy security.
Notably, PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and France ahead of the Quad Summit, tomorrow. He will meet Yoon Suk Yeol, President of the Republic of Korea; Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Vietnam; and Emmanuel Macron, President of France.
