Moscow/New Delhi:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made his first comments on Washington’s plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. During the press briefing, he started with “words of gratitude” for US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with other state heads, for paying attention to the Ukraine conflict despite having “a lot on our plates”.
“First of all, I would like to start with words of gratitude to the president of the United States, Mr Trump, for paying so much attention to the Ukraine settlement. All of us have lots on our plates, but many state leaders, the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, the Prime Minister of India, president of Brazil and South African Republic. They devote a lot of time to this issue, and we are thankful to them because it’s all for the noble cause of stopping hostilities and preventing human casualties,” he said.
PM Modi, during a meeting with Trump at the White House last month, stressed that “India is not neutral” in its stand on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “India is not neutral. India is siding with peace. I have already said to President Putin that this is not the era of war. I support the efforts taken by President Trump,” the Prime Minister had said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India have been stressing that this is “not an era of war but of dialogue and diplomacy”. Since the Ukraine conflict began in February last year, PM Modi has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a number of times.
The United States, meanwhile, has called for Russia to agree to the ceasefire proposal without any conditions.
Putin, however, said that while he was “for” the proposed ceasefire, but “there are nuances”, and he had “serious questions” about how it would work.
Trump said Putin’s statement was “promising” but “not complete”.
“He put out a very promising statement but it wasn’t complete,” Trump, who was meeting NATO chief Mark Rutte at the White House, told reporters when asked about Putin’s remarks.
Ukraine agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia this week, bowing to pressure after a showdown between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and injured, displacing millions of people, reducing towns to rubble and triggering the sharpest confrontation between Moscow and the West in decades.