NEW DELHI: India is yet to take a call on the level of its participation in the Summit on Peace in Ukraine to be hosted by Switzerland this month despite growing calls from Europe for representation by the senior leadership, people familiar with the matter said.
While India is expected to be among the countries attending the conference at Bürgenstock Hotel above Lake Lucerne during June 15-16, New Delhi will not be represented by top leaders, including the prime minister or external affairs minister, the people said on condition of anonymity.
India’s participation in the peace summit is expected to be at the same level as four earlier meetings of senior security officials and political advisors held in Copenhagen, Jeddah, Malta and Davos since 2022, the people said. The country was represented at most of these meetings by the secretary (West) in the external affairs ministry or the deputy national security adviser.
While National Security Adviser Ajit Doval attended the meeting hosted in Jeddah last August by Saudi Arabia, he is unlikely to go to Switzerland, the people said.
Switzerland sent its foreign secretary Alexandre Fasel to New Delhi last month as part of efforts to secure India’s participation in the peace summit. Fasel told the media that India and other members of the Brics grouping, such as China and South Africa, could act as “go-betweens” between Russia and the West.
Russia has not been invited to the summit and India’s main concern is that it should not be seen as part of an initiative where a group of mainly Western countries create a framework for future negotiations to end the war in Ukraine without any Russian involvement, the people said.
India has refrained from publicly criticising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though it has called on both sides to end hostilities and return to dialogue and diplomacy to find a solution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview last month, said India will join all important summits that promote an agenda of global peace and security and “resonate the voice of the Global South” at such gatherings.
Ukraine and its partners had hoped that India would at least send the foreign secretary to the peace summit but the people cited above ruled out the possibility of this happening. Some of India’s key partners in Europe, such as France, believe India has a pivotal role to play in conveying an “appropriate message” to Russia and in convincing members of the Global South and middle-ground countries about the need to end the war, one of the people cited above said.
“The Ukraine war has far-reaching consequences for the overall weakening of the rules-based international order, even beyond Europe,” the person said. “China is closely watching how Russia handles the war. If Russia succeeds, it can influence how China handles its policy for Taiwan and even beyond,” the person added.
Last week, China announced it wouldn’t participate in the peace summit in Switzerland because Russia hadn’t been invited. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used a visit to Singapore over the weekend to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue to accuse China of helping Russia disrupt the Swiss-organised peace summit. “Russia, using Chinese influence in the region…does everything to disrupt the peace summit,” he said.
According to the Swiss foreign ministry, more than 70 states, out of 160 delegations invited, have confirmed their participation in the peace summit, most of them at the level of head of state or government. Swiss foreign ministry spokesperson Elisa Raggi said half of these 70 countries are from Europe and the others from the rest of the world.
Vikram Sharma is a globe-trotting journalist with a global perspective on international events. His articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing insights into the world’s most pressing challenges.
