The Russian deputy foreign minister is in Delhi for talks amid the Ukraine issue

*Paromita Das

On Monday in Delhi, Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergey Vershinin met with Secretary of State for Western Affairs, Reenat Sandhu. The talks took place as Russia prepares to take up the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a month beginning February 1.

Since January of last year, India has been a non-permanent member of the council. Both sides decided to enhance collaboration on topics on the UNSC agenda, keeping in mind their special and privileged strategic alliance, the MEA mentioned in a statement.

Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Vershinin met with Indian envoy, Pavan Kapoor last week to discuss Russia’s UNSC presidency. Even as Moscow has kept India updated on the situation in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, as well as Russia-West talks on security assurances, the visit takes on further significance.

Russia has set red lines, stating that Ukraine should not join NATO, and has urged the West, particularly the US, to provide security guarantees to alleviate its concerns.

“We are educating our Indian partners on the relevant security situation in Europe and corresponding talks,” deputy director of the information and press department, said Alexey Zaytsev.

According to a Russian summary of the meeting, they “exchanged opinions and evaluations on the events in Geneva, Brussels, and Vienna on security guarantees for Russia.”

Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, chaired the discussions in Geneva, where US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman represented the US. Sherman had previously called India’s foreign secretary, Harsh Shringla, to give him an update on the situation.

New Delhi, which has strong relations to both the United States and Russia, has advocated for a “peaceful conclusion” to the problem. “We advocate for a peaceful resolution of the crisis via on-going diplomatic efforts for long-term peace and stability in the area and beyond,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said last week at the weekly press conference.

While New Delhi constantly monitors events in Eastern Europe, the Indian mission in Ukraine has begun collecting information on Indian citizens in the country. According to government estimates, there are approximately 18,000 Indian students in the country.