- Friday, February 28, 2025
In an interview to the Wall Street Journal, the Indian PM said India’s position is well known and well understood in the entire world which is confident that India’s top-most priority is peace.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN PRIME minister Narendra Modi has said that his country’s stand on Russia when it comes to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has not been widely criticised in the US.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal ahead of his much-highlighted state visit to the US starting Wednesday (21), the prime minister said he didn’t feel critical perception about India for not taking a more forceful stance against Moscow’s military invasion against Kyiv is widespread.
“I think India’s position is well known and well understood in the entire world. The world has full confidence that India’s top-most priority is peace,” Modi was quoted as saying.
A lot is being said and written about Modi’s three-day visit to the US which many see as a turning point in the two countries’ bilateral ties, with deeper emphasis on defence and high technology.
New Delhi has refused to condemn Moscow, one of its old allies, over the war in Ukraine and also increased its trade with the latter to record levels, driven mostly by importing oil.
However, when Modi met Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Samarkand in Uzbekistan last September, he had told the latter that this is not an age of war, a reminder which was appreciated by many in the west.
In the interview, Modi also said that India’s relation with China could only progress if there was peace on their border. Last month, the Indian prime minister had said something similar to Nikkei Asia prior to his departure for Japan for the G7 summit. He had said on that occasion that peace and tranquility in the border areas are essential for normal bilateral ties between India and China.
India and China have seen tense situations on their border areas in the western Himalayas in the last three years after a clash in June 2020 saw death of soldiers on both sides in hand-to-hand scuffle.
