‘Dialogue & diplomacy' only way forward, says MEA as it welcomes Trump-Putin's Alaska summit

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a day ago

'India welcomes the summit meeting in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Their leadership in the pursuit of peace is highly commendable,' Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said in a statement.
The summit, held Friday, was the first meeting between an American leader and Putin since 2021. Russia considers the summit a diplomatic victory, as it brings to an end the Western consensus to boycott and isolate Putin since the war began in February 2022.
New Delhi: India Saturday welcomed the summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Alaska, asserting its long-held view that only 'dialogue and diplomacy' can bring peace after Moscow's nearly four-year-long war in Ukraine.
The official spokesperson added, 'India appreciates the progress made in the summit. The way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy. The world wants to see an early end to the conflict in Ukraine.'
New Delhi has long urged both Moscow and Kyiv to find a diplomatic settlement to the war. The war has seen thousands of lives lost on both sides, while Russia has continued to advance across the frontline, albeit slowly, in Ukraine's east.
Moscow has claimed the four eastern provinces of Ukraine—Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—while it has continued to occupy Crimea since 2014.
The war has frustrated Trump, who promised the American electorate that the war would end within 24 hours if he were elected to power while on the campaign trail in 2024.
However, even a proposed partial ceasefire earlier this year failed to materialise.
At the Alaska summit, Trump and Putin did not reach a deal. The American President has claimed that the two leaders agreed on several areas, but shared no details. Putin, however, in a statement to the press after the summit, maintained that the two leaders reached certain 'understandings'.
Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for over an hour after the summit and indicated that the Russian President would prefer a comprehensive peace agreement over a quick ceasefire. Zelenskyy has been pushing for an early ceasefire, followed by discussions for a peace deal at a later stage.
On Monday, the Ukrainian President will travel to Washington, DC, for a meeting with Trump at the Oval Office. The last meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump at the White House ended with the two leaders verbally sparring, before the Ukrainian President left without completing the official agenda.
'Ukraine reaffirms its readiness to work with maximum effort to achieve peace. President Trump informed about his meeting with the Russian leader and the main points of their discussion. It is important that America's strength has an impact on the development of the situation,' Zelenskyy said in a statement on the social media platform X, after his conversation with Trump.
The Ukrainian President also welcomed the proposal for a 'trilateral' meeting among himself, Putin, and Trump.
In a statement on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said that if the Monday meeting with Zelenskyy 'works out', the next step will be scheduling another meeting with Putin.
For New Delhi, Trump's comments that he will not think of penalising countries purchasing Russian oil for the next two to three weeks brought some respite.
India-US ties hit a rough patch after Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods last week, as a 'penalty' for New Delhi's large purchases of Russian oil.
Diplomatic ties have been tenuous as negotiations for a trade deal have stalled in recent weeks between New Delhi and Washington, DC. India is unwilling to open its agricultural and dairy sectors to the extent demanded by the US to ensure the trade deal.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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