India on Thursday opened its G20 presidency with a call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end the war in Ukraine.
Modi made the appeal in an article outlining India’s ambitions for its G20 presidency, published by the government and also by the British daily The Telegraph.
«Today we do not need to fight for our survival, our time should not be that of war. It shouldn’t be!” she said.
The prime minister had earlier delivered a similar message to Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand last September.
Putin visited New Delhi late last year, hugging Modi and hailing India’s “great power” as the two strengthened their military and energy ties.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, India, a heavy consumer of Russian oil, has increased its purchases of crude, sold at discounts after the Western embargo.
War in Ukraine, considered Europe’s breadbasket, has disrupted grain shipments, skyrocketed commodity prices and sparked fears of a global food crisis.
