Emphasizing that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is a matter of “deep concern,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday (Local Time) that India is on the side of peace and therefore has been urging both the countries to return to dialogue and diplomacy.
Voicing concern on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Jaishankar in an interaction with the Indian diaspora said, “For us, this conflict is really a matter of very very deep concern. It is a deep concern because as PM Modi declared in September we actually believe that this is no longer an era of war where you cannot settle differences and issues through violence and conflict.” “So from the very beginning, our effort has been to urge or to return to dialogue and diplomacy. We continued to press on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has spoken on numerous occasions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. I myself talk to my colleagues in Russia and Ukraine,” he added.
He asked the countries, who believe that the only solution must lie through negotiation, to speak up clearly in that regard. “we are on the side of peace, and a large part of the world thinks similarly to us,” Jaishankar added.(ANI)
