ENVOYS LOOK TO PM’S CONVERSATION WITH RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Putin's India visit sparks Europe's push to end war

HIGH-LEVEL MEET l@ European envoys have urged Modi to tell Putin to stop the war as they are friends and that Putin listens to Modi @ Prior to this, European leaders had asked India to condemn Russian action in Ukraine in February 2022 @ Senior MEA officials, gave the European envoys a patient hearing while they prepared for Putin's two-day visit @ On previous meets, Modi had conveyed Putin to abstain from ‘war'

- SHUBHAJIT ROY

AHEAD OF RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in New Delhi Thursday on a two-day state visit to India,his first tothe country since the start of the Ukraine war, several envoys and officials of European capitals are learnt to have “privately” urged the Indian government over the last few days to lean on Putin to end the war.

It has been learnt that this was conveyed “politely” and “subtly” by the envoys and officials of many European countries, including some in eastern Europe, who view this war as a threat to their existence and European security. Sources said the gist of the message to Delhi from these European envoys and capitals is: “Putin is a friend of yours,he listens to you,PM Modi has said that solutions can’t be found on the battlefield, so please ask him to stop the war.”

This messaging is qualitatively different from the one by the Europeans in the immediate aftermath of the start of the war in February 2022 when they had asked India to condemn the Russian action in Ukraine. At that time, several European leaders and Foreign Ministers had travelled to Delhi to convey their strong sentiments and had asked India to choose a side.