India yet to decide on inviting Zelenskyy for G20 summit

India has also not yet committed a visit by PM Modi to Kyiv, although Ukraine has conveyed its keenness for the same

Notwithstanding subtle nudge from Kyiv, India has not yet committed an invitation for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address the G20 summit, which will be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

New Delhi has also not yet committed a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kyiv, although Ukraine has conveyed its keenness to host the leader of India.

Modi, however, may have another phone-call with Zelenskyy soon. The Prime Minister’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and senior diplomats from India may also visit Ukraine in the coming weeks.

Supporting Ukraine in its resistance to military aggression by Russia is the “only right choice” for India, which wants to be the ‘Vishwaguru’, Emine Aiiarovna Dzhaparova, the First Deputy Foreign Minister of the beleaguered East European nation tweeted as she flew in from Kyiv to New Delhi early on Monday.

Also Read | Supporting Kyiv only right choice: Top Ukraine minister in India

“Happy to visit India – the land that gave birth to many sages, saints & (and) gurus. Today, #India wants to be the Vishwaguru, the global teacher and arbiter,” Dzhaparova posted on Twitter, adding: “In our case, we’ve got a very clear picture: aggressor against innocent victim. Supporting Ukraine is the only right choice for true Vishwaguru”.

Dzhaparova is the first senior official of Ukraine to visit India after Russia in February 2022 launched its “special military offensive” in the East European nation.

“On the question of India's involvement (in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict) – as a leader of the global south, as a country holding the G20 presidency, India we hope will be involved and engaged in global issues and challenges, economic challenges, energy challenges and nuclear challenges to a great extent," Dzhaparova told journalists after a meeting with Sanjay Verma, Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs, in New Delhi.

She later told a TV channel that Kyiv expected New Delhi to invite Zelenskyy to the 18th G20 summit to be hosted by Modi. She said that a G20 summit could not avoid a discussion on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Ukraine, unlike Russia, is not a member of the G20. But Zelenskyy had been invited to virtually address the 17th G20 summit, which Indonesian President Joko Widodo had hosted at Bali in November 2022. Zelenskyy had continued his tirade against Russia for its war against Ukraine. He had repeatedly addressed the leaders as the “G19 leaders”, discounting and tacitly snubbing Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had not attended the G20 summit in Bali and sent his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to represent him.

Putin, however, is likely to attend the summit to be hosted by Modi. That is why New Delhi could not yet decide on inviting Zelenskyy despite pressure from the United States and other western nations to extend an invitation to the Ukrainian President.

“We believe intensification of political dialogue on the highest level is (the) first step towards this big goal. My president is requesting a phone conversation with the Prime Minister. We are looking forward to welcoming him in Kyiv one day,” Dzhaparova told a TV channel. She said that the Ukrainian Government was also keen to host Doval.

Verma, Secretary (West) at the MEA, said he and the visiting dignitary discussed bilateral engagements and cooperation going forward.

New Delhi has been drawing flak for not joining the western nations in strongly condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. India refrained from echoing the US and rest of the West primarily in view of its decades-old strategic partnership with Russia and its continued reliance on military hardware procured from the former Soviet Union nation. India has also been circumventing sanctions imposed by the US and the other western nations on Russia and continuing bilateral trade. It has also increased oil and coal imports from Russia.

“We only think it is crucial to diversify all of the resources, not only energy but also military resources," Dzhaparova said, adding: “When you are dependent on Russia, they always use this blackmail instrument.”

Modi’s “it-is-not-the-era-of-war” appeal to Putin, delivered during a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022, however, was hailed by the media and the governments in the western nations