Need for direct talks between Putin and Zelensky: PM Modi tells Biden

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Joe Biden met each other in a virtual meeting on Monday. During this, apart from the Ukraine crisis, the development of South Asia, the situation in the Indo-Pacific and bilateral cooperation were important issues of discussion.
President Biden said that the US and India will continue consultations to cope with the "destablising" effects of the Russian War in Ukraine. PM Modi, on the other hand, focused on the need for direct talks between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian  counterpart to resolve the crisis. In his televised opening remarks, PM Modi called the situation in Ukraine "very worrisome" and hoped that the ongoing dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv will lead to peace.

A readout by the White House said Modi and Biden discussed the "destabilising impacts of Russia's war against Ukraine, with a particular focus on global food supply".

Meanwhile, in his remarks, Biden also talked about the strong India-US defence partnership, stressing that both the countries are going to "continue our close consultation on how to manage the destabilizing effects of this Russian war".

"Our today's talks are taking place at a time when the situation in Ukraine remains very worrisome. Till a few weeks ago, more than 20,000 Indians were stranded in Ukraine. And most of these were young students," Modi said.

The prime minister also noted that an Indian student lost his life in Ukraine. "After a lot of hard work, we were able to get them out of there safely, although one student lost his life.
 Throughout this development, I spoke on the phone several times with the Presidents of both Ukraine and Russia," he said.

"Not only did I appeal for peace, but I also suggested President Putin to have direct talks with the President of Ukraine. The subject of Ukraine has been discussed in great detail in our Parliament as well," Modi added.

The Modi-Biden virtual meet took place ahead of the fourth India-US '2+2' dialogue in Washington which will be led by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the Indian side and their US counterparts, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony J Blinken.