‘Not a legacy that’ll be kept for centuries, is evaporating’: Ukraine urges India to rethink close ties with Russia


‘Not a legacy that’ll be kept for centuries, is evaporating’: Ukraine urges India to rethink close ties with Russia


Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said that India had much to gain from expanding trade and technology with Ukraine instead. He also underscored the possibility of India’s crucial role in the post-war reconstruction.

Ukraine urges India to rethink close ties with Russia
Business Today Desk
  • Mar 29, 2024,
  • Updated Mar 29, 2024, 8:41 AM IST

Amid the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, the former has urged India to rethink its close ties with the latter, which are based on an ‘evaporating’ Soviet legacy. Ukraine also warned India about Russia’s deepening ties with China. 

According to a report in the Financial Times, Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who is on a visit to India, said that the Soviet legacy will not be kept for centuries. As per Kuleba, “the co-operation between India and Russia is largely based on the Soviet legacy. But this is not the legacy that will be kept for centuries; it is a legacy that is evaporating.”

Related Articles

He said that the “Chinese-Russian relationship should be of particular attention for India” in light of national security prerogatives. 

Kuleba said that India had much to gain from expanding trade and technology with Ukraine instead. He also underscored the possibility of India’s crucial role in the post-war reconstruction. He said that after the war, Ukraine would possibly become the largest construction site in the world and Indian companies are welcome to participate in the recovery, as mentioned in the report.

Ukraine was looking to ‘restore trade’ with India, the minister said, and resuming exports of agricultural products like sunflower oil and buying more Indian goods. Kuleba also said that Ukraine is interested in importing some of the heavy machinery that India is producing.

The Ukrainian minister highlighted that every barrel of Russian crude that India has bought after the war had a “good portion of Ukrainian blood in it”. India is a leading buyer of Russian crude oil.

Before Kuleba’s visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had separate phone calls with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Prime Minister reiterated the importance of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict. PM Modi expressed India’s support towards a peaceful resolution. Both the leaders invited PM Modi to their respective countries after the Lok Sabha elections. 

India has traditionally had close economic and defence ties with Moscow and refrained from criticising Russia over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

Read more!
RECOMMENDED