In what is being seen as “very significant” statements, United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson, hours ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, on Thursday said that historically India and Russia have had a very different relationship as compared to what the UK has had with Russia. Refusing to say anything that could be interpreted as his criticism of New Delhi-Moscow ties amid the Ukraine war, the visiting British Premier said that India has already taken a stand over Ukraine as it has strongly condemned the Bucha genocide. He further added that he is going to talk about this during his interactions with PM Modi.
PM Johnson said this in Gujarat on the first day of his two-day visit to India. Diplomatic sources see it as a positive that Johnson did not elaborate too much on India’s stance on the Russian aggression in Ukraine. “That Boris spoke about India’s condemnation of the Bucha killings should be seen as his appreciation of New Delhi’s reaction to the violence,” a highly-placed official told The Daily Guardian.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi used every occasion to remind the US, the UK and other western countries that India did not show any hesitancy in condemning the Bucha killings and sought an independent probe. PM Modi succeeded in driving the message home that there is no ambiguity in India’s stand on the Ukraine crisis and that India is not a mute spectator to what is happening in Kyiv,” says the official. “This is what has been indicated by Johnson when he referred to New Delhi having condemned the Buch genocide,” he added. The British PM said: “Well, they’ve already raised Ukraine, as you can imagine with Prime Minister Modi. And actually, if you look at what the Indians have said, they were very strong in their condemnation of the atrocities in Bucha.”
“As I think everybody understands, India and Russia have, historically, a very different relationship, perhaps than Russia and the UK have had over the last couple of decades. We have to reflect that reality, but clearly, I’ll be talking about it to Narendra Modi,” PM Boris Johnson added.
The British Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to India and will meet Narendra Modi on Friday. In another significant statement, Johnson said in Ahmedabad Thursday that the UK was “making an Indo-Pacific tilt in our integrated review of our national defence and security strategy”. “There is an opportunity for us to deepen our security and defence partnership,” he added. The UK PM said it would be the “right thing to do given the huge portion of the world economy and the growth of the world economy that can be found in this area. And India and the UK both share anxieties about autocracies around the world, we’re both democracies and we want to stick together.” Sources said that the British leader has dropped ample hints that the Indo-Pacific issues will be high on agenda during the talks between PMs Modi and Johnson.
After India abstained from voting in the UN against Russia over atrocities in Ukraine, major western countries had urged India to take a stand. However, India continued to be firm on its stand seeking immediate cessation of violence and resolution of the problems through dialogue and diplomacy. India’s concern was mainly about the humanitarian crisis resulting from the violence. With this in view, PM Modi spoke to the Ukrainian and Russian Presidents several times, urging both of them to hold direct talks to end the violence. The western countries including the UK were updated on every single effort made by PM Modi to ensure that the war ends and humanitarian issues are addressed. The US President Joe Biden had lauded India’s contribution in terms of humanitarian assistance in the war-ravaged Ukraine. Sources say that when PM Johnson will sit with PM Modi for talks on Friday, he will have all these facts in mind.
