Transcript of Special Briefing by External Affairs Minister on Prime Minister’s visit to Ukraine (August 23, 2024)

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to this Special Briefing on the visit of the Prime Minister of India to Ukraine. We have with us Honorable External Affairs Minister of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar, to brief you on the visit of the Prime Minister. We also have on the dais Foreign Secretary, Mr. Vikram Misri; as well as Secretary (West), Mr. Tanmaya Lal; and also we are joined by Ambassador of India to Ukraine, Ambassador Ravi Shankar. With that, I welcome and invite External Affairs Minister to make his remarks to the media. Sir.

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister: Thank you very much, Randhir. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As you know, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kyiv this morning, and we have just concluded his official engagements. This is a landmark visit. It's the first time that an Indian Prime Minister has visited Ukraine since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992.

Now the prime minister arrived by a special train in the morning, and he was received by First Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Andrii Sybiha at the Kyiv railway station. He arrived here in the hotel. He met the Indian community. He then started his engagements with a visit to the multimedia exposition on children who have lost their lives in this conflict. He was accompanied to the Museum by President Zelenskyy. The Prime Minister placed a toy in the Museum in memory of the children. He thereafter went to the AV Fomin Botanical Gardens to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, whose statue is there. And in fact, his last engagement is going on right now, which is that he's meeting Ukrainian students who are studying Hindi.

Now in terms of the official discussions, I should say that he held these with President Zelenskyy. This happens to be their fourth meeting. They had met initially in Glasgow in November of 2021, then in Hiroshima in May of 2023, and then most recently in Apulia in Italy in June of 2024. They've also had seven teleconversations.

So, in the discussion, obviously a significant part of it was devoted to our bilateral relations. There was a discussion about trade, economic issues, defence, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, education. There were a whole lot of issues. You will see much of that reflected in the Joint Statement, which will be released very shortly. The leaders also, I must share with you, tasked the Inter-Governmental Commission, of which Minister Kuleba and I are the co-chairs, to specifically focus on rebuilding our trade and economic relations, which had gone down in recent times. And we certainly look forward to having early meeting of that body, definitely by the end of this year.

Now, while this is the first visit, I think you all appreciate that there is a very clear context in which the visit is taking place; and obviously, much of the discussion was spent with regard to the war in Ukraine. So, before I come to exactly what was discussed, I just want to give a little bit of background here, which is that there have been a number of public positions taken by India and by the Prime Minister on this subject. A little more than two years ago, he had actually publicly said that this is not an era of war. He had also underlined that dialogue and diplomacy are the key. Most recently, he emphasized that the solution will not come out of the battlefield. And obviously we find the civilian and humanitarian toll of this conflict particularly distressing. It's also India's view that the two sides need to engage each other to find a solution.

Now, I'll come to the Joint Statement, but there's a particular segment in the Joint Statement which pertains to the conflict. So let me sort of read that out, which is that the Prime Minister reiterated the need for sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders to develop innovative solutions that will have broad acceptability and contribute towards early restoration of peace. He reiterated India's willingness to contribute in all possible ways to facilitate an early return of peace.

Now while I read that part out from the Joint Statement, again, just to refresh your memory or for those of you who may not be entirely aware of it; I would like to remind you that in the past, India has actually been actively associated with various efforts led by various countries in this regard. We supported the Turkish effort in 2022 to open up the Black Sea Grain Corridor. In September 2022 also, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal actually took up with us the concerns regarding the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant at that time. It was a matter on which we had been thereafter directly in touch with the Russians and then back to the Ukrainian side, also been in touch with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. And at various other points of time, we had also taken public positions, cautioning against the danger of escalation.

Now, let me now come to today's discussion on this particular subject, because I would say, in terms of the time which the Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy spent, most of it actually was in regard to the conflict. So here, the Prime Minister spoke about our position, which I have summed up for you; that is not an era of war, that dialogue and diplomacy are key, that the solution will not come out of the battlefield. He shared the widespread sentiment in the Global South about the repercussions of this conflict for them.

He spoke also about his discussions recently with President Putin in Moscow. The Prime Minister, if you remember, was there in July. He sought President Zelenskyy's assessment, both of the ground situation as well as the diplomatic scenario. President Zelenskyy spoke at some length on both issues. He also spoke about taking the Global Peace Summit in regard to Ukraine forward. And I would say if I were to kind of sum up really what was a fairly long and detailed discussion; one, it revolved around to some extent the military situation, about on the medium-term concerns like food and energy, and most of all, on conceivable pathways to peace and conflict resolution.

I would say, you know, I'm sure the Ukrainian side will do its own briefing, but in fairness, I would sort of sum up their position as saying that they clearly wanted continued involvement of India with the Global Peace Summit. There was also a discussion about what could be effective ways of taking these discussions forward, not necessarily within the format of the Summit. There are obviously multiple possibilities here and multiple views about those possibilities. So what I can say is that it was a very detailed, a very open, in many ways a very constructive discussion. And if there is any further development in that regard, we will obviously keep you all informed.

With regard to other issues, I think the best that I would do, because we have a paucity of time, would be to refer you to the Joint Statement. Just again, I'm summing it up very succinctly. I'm not touching all points. But in the Joint Statement, I want to emphasize that the Prime Minister and the President reiterated their readiness to further cooperation in upholding principles of international law, including the UN Charter, such as respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of States. As I said, they spoke about the Summit on Peace in Ukraine. The last meeting was in June of 2024. In terms of our own positions, I think I read out for you that particular paragraph. I would say in addition to that, there are references in the Joint Statement to our bilateral cooperation to trade, to commerce, to education. We signed four Agreements today. One was in regard to community development projects in Ukraine. One was in regard to drugs control standards and harmonization. One was on cultural exchange, and the fourth one was agriculture.

Finally, let me just say that we have, in the past, been providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. I think 17 consignments so far have been delivered. These are largely on the medical side. And today, we handed over the BHISHM, these are cubes which contain medical support equipment which are very effective, very compact, very deployable in many ways. So these cubes with a total weight of 22 tons were handed over today along with 10 gensets.

So, I think this would probably be a fair summary of today's discussions. I'm sure you will have some questions or thoughts. I'd be happy to answer them.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: We open the floor now, and please do introduce yourself before you ask the question.

Rishikesh: Hi Sir, Rishikesh, from Press Trust of India. So we have seen in the past that Ukraine's side has made a very strong statement on the issue of India's import, especially on gas, energy, or coal. So when today, Prime Minister meets with President Zelenskyy, did President urge India to curb its imports from Russia?

Vishnu: Sir, Vishnu Som from NDTV, were there any specific proposals made by us, by India, to Ukraine in terms of a possible immediate path towards ending the conflict?

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister:So question is specific proposals and immediate path? And the adjectives in question are specific proposal and immediate path?

Vishnu: Yes, Sir.

Speaker 1:(Inaudible) my first question is, India didn't position itself as a negotiator between Ukraine and Russia. However, Bloomberg reports that your side is willing to deliver some message from Russian side to Ukraine. Were there any specific message today from Putin to Volodymyr Zelenskyy? And the second question, what is the stance of the India on Chinese peace plan? Because India respects Ukrainian territorial integrity, and it didn't include in Chinese peace plan.

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister: So the first question, did the issue of India's energy trade with Russia come up? Yes, it did. I wouldn't say at great length, but what we did was to explain to the Ukrainian side what was the energy market scenario, the fact that today many energy producers are sanctioned, making the market potentially very tight; and why actually today there is a compulsion, in fact not just a compulsion, I mean why it is in the interest of the international economy as a whole, that oil prices remain reasonable and stable.

On, Vishnu, your question, in a way they kind of feed into each other. Look, I would put it this way, clearly, we have been having our own thinking and discussions with many other countries. Because the Prime Minister was recently in Moscow, there were detailed discussions there which we have been quite public about. So he shared, I think, many of the thoughts and the substance of these discussions. I wouldn't necessarily characterize it in the way in which you said Bloomberg had described it. In turn, I think we heard from President Zelenskyy at some length what his own views were, what his own views were about these issues, but what his own views were about the subject as a whole, I mean not necessarily to anything which we may have told him we may have heard in Moscow. So it was a very back and forth discussion. So to my mind… certainly I'm sure that there was information which we obtained here, and I'm sure we also perhaps may have brought up points of flagged issues which may or may not have been in… people would have been cognizant of here. So where we ended, at the end of the discussion, I think there was a sense that this is a very complex issue. I mean, yes, certainly we have this one particular format, the Peace in Ukraine format. But as I said, you know, it is the view not just of India, but certainly of India as well, that there could be multiple ways of approaching this issue.

Now you've asked me for one of those examples, and I mean, I'm not comparing here. I'm just responding to your particular question. Regarding whatever China may have proposed, I think it's not for us to respond. I think it is for the parties concerned to respond, so I would suggest you direct that question at the Ukrainian government.

Rishabh: Minister, good afternoon, Rishabh from Times Now. Sir, you spoke about Ukrainians asking us to be part of the Ukraine Peace Summit that last happened in Switzerland. Has there been any proposal from Ukraine to India to try and convince Russia to be on that table because Russia last time was not part of the Peace Summit in Switzerland? So has there been any talks from Ukrainian side that India should try and get Russia also on the table?

Sidhant: Sir, Sidhant from WION. Did the Ukrainian side briefed on the Kursk incursion? And my second question is, PM paid his homage, tributes to the victims, the children who died in the war. The Prime Minister also mentioned this to President Putin two months ago in Moscow. So what was the message in terms of Prime Minister paying his homage to the children?

Nick: Thank you for the question, Minister, Nick Beake from BBC News. You talked about Prime Minister Modi's visit to Moscow last month, and a lot of people here were very upset to see that embrace between the two leaders. Also they were quite upset to see India overtake China in terms of the biggest importer of Russian crude oil. And also they say they're disappointed that there hasn't been an explicit condemnation of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. So in light of that, I'm just wondering whether you had difficulty today persuading President Zelenskyy that India is not favoring Russia but is indeed pursuing a policy of Non-Alignment. And secondly, because of that meeting in Russia last month, I think Prime Minister Modi is probably the most significant influential world leader to have spoken to both sides recently. What personal role could he play in some sort of pursuit of peace? Thank you.

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister: Yours was the first question. In terms of the Peace in Ukraine Summit, look, it was discussed at some length, because much of what President Zelenskyy said revolved around, not everything, but a significant part of it. Now, you know, at the end of the day, it's their initiative, okay? It is their initiative in which we have taken part. I mean, if you look at it, at every stage of that initiative, when it started in Copenhagen, his predecessor [Secretary (West)] was there. Then the NSA went into Jeddah. The deputy NSA went to Riyadh and to Davos. Similarly, the hybrid formats in Doha, even at Burgenstock, we have been represented at that level. So we have been represented there, but we also agree on some parts of it and don't agree necessarily on all of it. So I think there was a very open discussion on this. Now, what will be the next steps? Who exactly will come? Will the Russians come in, not come in? You know, that's really not an issue for us to take a call. I mean, that's an issue which presumably the Government of Ukraine is dealing with.

Sidhant, regarding your issue, on Kursk, I would say the military situation, including some recent developments, did come up for discussions. And in terms of the visit, what you asked about the homage particularly to the children; look, in any conflict, obviously any death is something which is, to put it fairly mildly, regrettable; and if it is a civilian death, a humanitarian death, even more so; and if it is a child's death, even more so. So I think it is something which touches everybody. And even when we were in Moscow, it is a subject on which the Prime Minister spoke publicly. So I think it was very natural for him to come and express that feeling in some kind of gesture.

Regarding your question, you know, in our part of the world, when people meet people, they are given to embracing each other. It may not be part of your culture, but I assure you it's part of ours. So in fact, today I think I saw the Prime Minister also embrace President Zelenskyy, and I've seen him do it with a number of other leaders in a number of other places. So I think perhaps we have a slightly cultural gap here in terms of what these courtesies mean.

In terms of what you asked about the oil issue, look, India is a big oil consumer. It's a big oil importer because we don't have oil. Now, it's not like there's a political strategy to buy oil. There is an oil strategy to buy oil. There's a market strategy to buy oil. So the figures of where we get our oil imports go up and down. It depends on the state of the market. But it would definitely… I think the fact that the market is tight, that today big suppliers like Iran and Venezuela, who used to supply India, are constrained from operating freely in the markets, I think is a factor which needs to be taken into account.

Regarding the conversation between the prime minister and President Zelenskyy, I think it was a perfectly convivial conversation. I think it was very constructive. I think there was a lot that we said, which he heard with a great deal of attention. He knows that we mean well by Ukraine. He knows that we are today very, very keen that this conflict should come to an end. And essentially what the message from our side to him, which surely would have not come as a surprise to him, is that if there is anything that we can do in any way, in sort of upfront or behind or supporting somebody, it's the objective that we are interested in, rather than the process. We are willing to do whatever we can, because we do think that the continuation of this conflict is terrible, obviously for Ukraine itself and for the world as well.

Umashankar:Videsh Mantri ji aapne bataya ki 32 saal baad, rajnakyik rishte k baad, Pradhan Mantri pahli baar yahan pe Bharat ke aaye, kya reciprocal basis pe ek invitation Rashtrapati Zelenskyy ko bhi diya gaya hai? Agar diya gaya hai toh unki taraf se kya ispe response raha?

[Question in Hindi: Approximate translation]External Affairs Minister, you mentioned that after 32 years of establishing diplomatic relations, the Prime Minister has visited here for the first time. Has an invitation been extended to President Zelenskyy on a reciprocal basis? If so, what has been their response?

Speaker 2:Thank you. So the peace formula proposed by the Ukrainian president has already mentioned today, and I want to ask you how interested is India in participating in the implementation of this formula, and if yes, which of the standpoints of this formula would India be ready to support? And I have one more question. So I want to ask you what is India's position on the application of international sanctions against Russia, and under what conditions India would join aboard sanctions regime or some part of it? Thank you.

Ashok: Good afternoon, sir. My name is Ashok from ANI. I have a question that Prime Minister Modi's visit to Ukraine has sent us positive sign to the world, including India. Will this be the favorable time for the Indian students to return Ukraine for their study?

Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister:Umashankar aapka sawal jo tha, I'll do it in both Hindi and English. Dekhiye aisa tha ki pahli baar Bharat ke Pradhan Mantri 1992 ke baad Ukraine aaye hain, toh apne aap mei iska mahatva hota hai. Toh aise samay mei ye bhi swabhawik hai ki Pradhan Mantri jo hain woh apne host ko, President Zelenskyy ko nimantran dete hain, is baar unhone diya tha. Toh hamari apeksha hain ki unke suvidha ke anusar Rashtrapati Zelenskyy jo hain Bharat mein unka visit bhi hoga.

[Answer in Hindi: Approximate translation] Umashankar, regarding your question, I'll do it in both Hindi and English. It's significant that our Prime Minister has visited Ukraine for the first time since 1992. It is natural on such occasions that he extends an invitation, which he did in this case. So we expect that at some point, as per his convenience, President Zelenskyy will visit India.

So essentially what I said was that our Prime Minister was here for the first time after 1992. It is natural on such occasions that he extends an invitation, which he did in this case. So we expect that at some point, as per his convenience, President Zelenskyy will visit India.

On the second question, the peace formula, look, we've been involved with the multiple meetings of the Summit, starting from Copenhagen, as I said, at a very senior level. How to take it forward? I think there is a diversity of views. I mean, there is a diversity of views, not just involving India. I think many other countries who have also taken part in the Summit have their particular views on how to take it forward. Now what we heard from the Ukrainian side today was their view and their expectation on how to go forward, which is understandable. But I think in terms of our view, our view is that any exercise, if it has to be productive, will naturally have to involve the other party concerned. I mean, it cannot be obviously, you know, a completely one-sided or a one effort which would fructify.

Regarding sanctions issue, I would say, look, generally, in India, we do not impose sanctions on any country. It's not part of our political, diplomatic history. If at all there are sanctions, I mean, we generally look at UN sanctions. Those are the sanctions that we respect.

In terms of the last question, students, look, at their peak, there were more than 20,000 students here. Obviously, 2022, many of them went back. Some have come back. They've come back because there are various academic compulsions on them. My understanding is that there are roughly somewhere between 2,000 to 2,500 students, currently. I mean, at this time, if you're asking us what advisory would we give them, we would still urge caution, because you can see there is a conflict on. I mean, it depends, again, on the place, on the city. But our hope, again, is that this conflict will come to an end. Life will return to normal and that we will see the full return of Indian students in due course.

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, ladies and gentlemen, we come to the close of this Session. Thank you very much for your presence.