Supporting Kyiv only right choice: Top Ukraine minister in India

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 said as she flew in from Kyiv to New Delhi early on Monday.

“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.

She is likely to meet senior government officials during her visit.

New Delhi has been drawing flak for not joining western nations in strongly condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. India refrained from echoing the US and 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 other western nations on Russia and continuing bilateral trade. It has also increased oil and coal imports from Russia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “it-is-not-the-era-of-war” appeal to Russian President Vladimir 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 governments in the western nations.

Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, spoke to each other on phone on several occasions over the past 14 months since the beginning of the conflict.

They last spoke over the telephone on December 26, when Zelenskyy asked Modi to help implement the “peace formula”, which he had proposed to end the conflict with Russia. Modi had conveyed to Zelenskyy that he would support any peace effort to end the conflict.

Zelenskyy also wished Modi a successful G20 presidency.

Modi will host the 18th G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 this year.

India also sent several consignments of humanitarian aid to Ukraine over the past year.