‘Balancing act’: as India pushes for peace in Ukraine, can it manage ties with Russia, West?

India’s diplomatic efforts to broker peace in the Ukraine-Russia war mark a bid to assert itself on the global stage while balancing relations between Moscow and the West, according to observers.

In meetings with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Moscow in July and Ukraine last month, reaffirmed his country’s readiness to help restore peace between both sides through political and diplomatic settlement.

Rajan Kumar, an associate professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of International Studies, said India had strategic interests in pushing for peace.

“The Western countries are [pressing] India to follow sanctions on Russia, which India refuses and maintains strong ties with the Kremlin. Russia also won’t like India to go very close with the US and Western countries,” Kumar said.

“So, maintaining this act of balancing it is becoming a very difficult kind of situation for India, so it doesn’t want this war to continue.”