‘PM Modi Has Ability To Engage With Kyiv And Moscow'

Highlighting the recent meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that PM Modi is one of the few leaders in the world today who can engage with Moscow and Kyiv.

The Foreign Minister was addressing the Kautilya Economic Conclave on Sunday, where he emphasised the role India has played in trying to find a point of convergence between the two parties in the conflict.

“In respect of Ukraine, in the last few months, PM Modi met President Zelenskyy thrice. He met Russian President Putin once. He's spoken to him more often and the NSA (National Security Advisor) and myself, we've been in touch," Jaishankar said.

He added, "The reason we are doing it is we are one of the few countries and PM Modi is one of the few leaders who today, has the ability to go to Kyiv and Moscow and talk to the two leaders and see what are their common points, is there something we can start or is there some convergence, some intersection that we can see which can become a strand which you pick up and try and develop and see whether things could be better?" Prime Minister Modi visited Russia in July and Ukraine in August this year. He also visited Zelenskyy in New York last month, on the sidelines of 79th United Nations General Assembly, which was their third meeting in around three months.