Support our fight against Russia to preserve Gandhi’s legacy, Ukraine nudges India on Holi

New Delhi: Though New Delhi has been refraining from condemning Russia for its military aggression against Ukraine, Kyiv on Monday invoked Mahatma Gandhi to stress that supporting it in its resistance against the invasion by the former Soviet Union nation would mean standing up for freedom and independence.

“According to Gandhi, the future depends on what we do in the present,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said, adding: “Hence, supporting Ukraine today means supporting freedom and independence, supporting the legacy of the great Mahatma.”

Kuleba, who is likely to visit New Delhi this week, recorded a video message in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Kyiv to convey Holi greetings to the people of India. He also used the video message to subtly nudge India to support Ukraine in its resistance against the military offensive launched in its territory by Russia.

India had drawn flak from the United States and the rest of the West for not joining the clamour against Moscow after Russia launched its “special military operations” in Ukraine in February 2022. India has been maintaining a strategic balance in its ties with Moscow and Washington DC. India’s decades-old strategic partnership with and its dependence on the Soviet Union and its successor Russia for military hardware appeared to have stopped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government from speaking up against Moscow. India has also been circumventing sanctions imposed by the US and the rest of the West on Russia and continued bilateral trade. It has also increased oil and coal imports from Russia. Modi, however, told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand in September 2022 that it was not an era of war, and the Moscow-Kyiv conflict should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

“Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the great Mahatma, was one of the most prominent figures of the 20th century. His ideal and final goal were freedom and independence,” Kuleba said in the video message he later posted on X. “And this is exactly what Ukrainians are fighting for today – freedom and independence.”

Kuleba’s visit to New Delhi this week is going to be not only his maiden but also the first ministerial visit from Ukraine to India after Russia launched its ‘special military operations’ in the East European nation on February 24, 2022.

He is likely to meet his counterpart, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and they will jointly chair the meeting of the intergovernmental commission on bilateral cooperation. He may also call on the prime minister during his visit to New Delhi.

“When Mahatma began his struggle, there were few optimists who believed in him. But he persisted and achieved his high goals. His life remains an inspiration for the whole world,” said Kuleba, tacitly drawing a parallel between India’s non-violent struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi for independence from the British Raj with Ukraine’s resistance against military aggression by Russia. “When Ukraine faced Russia’s full-scale invasion two years ago, very few people believed (that) we would survive. But we persisted and we would succeed in defending our freedom and independence,” added the foreign minister of Ukraine.

New Delhi, however, has been sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine ever since Russia launched its military offensives in the East European nation.

Modi has been speaking to both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the phone. He last spoke to both leaders on March 20. He congratulated Putin on his victory in the recent presidential elections that ensured his fifth term as the president of Russia. Zelenskyy requested Modi to ensure India’s participation in the peace summit, which would be held in Switzerland later this year to discuss ways to end the conflict, albeit most possibly without the participation of Russia. Modi told Zelenskyy that India would support all efforts for an early and peaceful resolution of all issues between Russia and Ukraine. He added that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a peaceful solution.

“I believe we can lay a solid foundation for the future of our mutually beneficial relations,” Kuleba said ahead of his meeting with Jaishankar in New Delhi.