NEW DELHI: There is a possibility of resolution of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday. “The needle is moving more towards the reality of negotiations than the continuation of the war,” the minister said on the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Saturday.
Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Qatar, also said that India is walking the talk, by going to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin, and going to Kyiv to engage President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and transparently carrying the messages to each other.
“India is trying to find common threads that can be picked up at some time,” he added.
India is articulating the sentiments of the Global South, comprising 125 other countries, who have found the costs of their fuel, food, fertilisers and inflation impacted by this war, Jaishankar said.
“In the last few weeks and months, I have even seen this sentiment expressed by major European leaders, who are actually asking us to keep engaging with Russia and Ukraine. So we do think that things are moving somewhere in that direction,” the minister added.
Referring to US President-elect Donald Trump’s recent threats that he would impose 100 per cent import tariffs on BRICS nations if they go ahead with a BRICS currency, Jaishankar said, “I am not exactly sure what the trigger was, but we have always said that India has never been for de-dollarisation. Right now, there is no proposal to have a BRICS currency.” He also explained how BRICS countries do not have an identical position on the issue.
Answering a question about the situation in the Gulf region and the latest in Syria, the minister highlighted how there is a widening of conflict and gave examples of Israel-Iran firing at each other. He said the situation in Red Sea is impacting shipping for Asia.
“I think diplomats of the world have to tell themselves, it is a messy world. It is terrible. But therefore, there is all the more reason for them to step forward,” he said, adding that the era of the 60s and 70s when the UN Security Council or a few Western powers managed such conflicts is “behind us.”