EAM S Jaishankar's Moscow visit might just be the key to end Russia-Ukraine war

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is on a two-day visit to Russia beginning today (November 7). During his trip, Jaishankar will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Deputy Prime and Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov.

• Other than economic cooperation, the minister is also expected to talk about the Russia-Ukraine war as the West is expecting India to mediate and end the conflict in Europe.

PM Modi on Russia-Ukraine war: The expectations have increased from India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin in September that this is not the time for war in Ukraine.

• At a bilateral meeting with Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on September 16, Modi told him that "today's era is not of war".

Will he be talking about the Russia-Ukraine war? MEA's spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that India has always emphasized the need to return to diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the crisis. "I am sure that the minister would certainly be reiterating it," he said.

Should India try and end the Russia-Ukraine war? If India wants to establish itself as a superpower and get a permanent seat at United Nations Security Council, it needs to try and end the war in Ukraine.

• The US and most of the Europe doesn't have a good relationship with Russia. China, on the other hand, has not criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and has very strong ties with Putin.
• In this scenario, India can be the best mediator as it has a neutral stand on the issue and is also an economic and military power to reckon with. India has a huge responsibility to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that has been going on for the last eight months.

War in Ukraine: The latest UN figures found 6,430 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia invaded the country. Ukraine's military chief has said nearly 9,000 soldiers have died in the war and US intelligence estimates that some 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed so far in Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has also led to one of the worst refugee crises ever. More than 6.7 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded their country.

What else will Jaishankar do in Russia? During Jaishankar's meeting with Sergey Lavrov, discussions are expected to cover the entire range of bilateral issues as well as the exchange of views on various regional and international developments, the MEA said.

• The external affairs minister will also meet Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov and discuss issues pertaining to bilateral economic cooperation between the two countries.

Russia praises India: On the occasion of Russia's Unity Day on November 4, Putin said that India has got a lot of potential and he has no doubt that it will achieve outstanding results in terms of development.

"India will achieve outstanding results in terms of its development - there are no doubts - and almost one-and-a-half billion people: now that's potential," Reuters reported the Russian President as saying.