New Delhi: Amid the deadlock over the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy speaking at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) on Saturday urged the West to impose sanctions on Moscow amid growing tensions.
Though the situation is seems to be chaotic and critical, Zelenskyy addressing the MSC said he wanted to convene a meeting of the permanent members of the UNSC, which include Germany, Russia and Turkey to provide new securities for Ukraine.
While it may seem that the heightened tensions are unlikely to get resolved in the near future as the West blamed President Putin for overseeing Russia's strategic nuclear forces exercises on Saturday and as the tensions soar in the Eastern Ukraine but Moscow still holds its position that they do not want a war, but their core demands need to be met.
But, what is being seen as New Delhi's firm and rock-solid position over the crisis, EAM Jaishankar on Saturday speaking at the MSC reiterated that the best kind of approach that all of us can have is through diplomacy. "Diplomacy is the answer," Jaishankar said. "One has to look at ways of reconciling," he added.
In an exclusive conversation with Kanwal Sibal, former Foreign Secretary of India, said that "It is unlikely that this conundrum will get resolved in a shorter span of time. While on the one side Americans want Russia to de-escalate and on the other hand, Russia says that "we are escalating because you don't listen to us. For years, you kept on ignoring our key demands. So the only way you listen to us is the way via escalation".
"But it us unlikely that Moscow would invade Ukraine," adds Sibal.
There were speculations that the West would like to push Jaishankar at the MSC over Ukraine-Russia impasse, but New Delhi's position remained firm and consistent with its independent and balanced foreign policy.
When being asked about if New Delhi would be further more pushed by the West to ally with them over this impasse, Sibal replied "Jaishankar and Blinken have had a meeting earlier in Melbourne. The US following the meet underscored that they had a honest interaction with India. So, these speculations that India would be pushed to ally with the West are all absurd".
With Jaishankar statement at the MSC that diplomacy is the answer, it appears loud and clear that New Delhi is standing cemented on her ground.
Asked to comment on the role of Europe in this crisis, which seems divided, Sibal replied, "Europe is not united on this issue and there are various reasons behind these disagreements. But, New Delhi is actually pushing for an European role and that's why we keep on talking about the MINSK agreement and the NORMANDY format because we know that if not stated, then the US will not allow Europe to settle this independently".
As President Zelenskyy said a few days ago that it is clear that even a few European nations do not want Kyiv to be a part of NATO, but he didn't mentioned any of the countries citing that he do not want to create a diplomatic rift.
On Sunday, Jaishankar will hold bilateral talks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Asked to comment on the future prospects of Indo-Pacific, which is to be tabled as a top agenda in this meet, Sibal opined that, "We can only speculate on this. It is obvious that such important discussions do not come in the public domain. But, obviously there will be talks on division of responsibilities, with regards to monitoring the sea channels, under water movement of Chinese submarine".
As Beijing has consistently been accusing the formation QUAD and AUKUS for being groups that are primarily anti-Chinese and tend to provoke Beijing, to this, Sibal said "The Chinese had created this atmosphere of uncertainty and war via its policies in South China Sea and East China Sea. They have themselves pushed the QUAD countries to come together and now they are blaming the QUAD countries for reacting to their own policies.
