Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kyiv had become inevitable in India’s two-year-long balancing act over Russia’s war on Ukraine. Delhi has vacillated between supporting the UN Charter principle of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states and remaining silent on Moscow’s all-out invasion of its southern neighbour. But this balancing act is clearly proving increasingly difficult. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky rejected Modi’s remark that “India is not neutral, we are on the side of peace” and called on Delhi to put its money where its mouth is and stop contributing to Russia’s “war economy” by ceasing to buy Russian oil. Modi’s embrace of Zelensky may have corrected the optical balance from Modi’s warm embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin in July. But Zelensky’s open opposition to Modi (during a press conference) exposed the limits of Indian policy on the Ukraine war. He also described Russia’s attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv during Modi’s visit in July as an insult by Putin to the Indian prime minister. After rhetorically suggesting India as a possible venue for a Ukraine peace conference, Zelensky rejected the idea, saying it was not possible as Delhi had not signed the joint communiqué of the peace conference held in Switzerland in July.
Truth and optics in Modi’s Kiev story
