Ukraine Peace Conference
By Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Giri
(Secretary General, Assn for Democratic Socialism)
The Foreign Minister of Switzerland, Alexndre Fasel was in Delhi to persuade South Block to attend the Ukraine peace conference. Switzerland is taking the initiative in organising this conference. It is inviting the countries which have not joined the Western alliance against Russia. The idea is to broaden the global consensus on the war in Ukraine. The initiative goes well with Switzerland which has a history of neutrality during both the World Wars. In the war in Ukraine, however, Switzerland has joined other Western countries in sanctioning Russia.
Swiss Foreign Minister defends this, “remaining neutral does not mean being indifferent to the ongoing war and doing nothing to stop it”. On the Indian part, New Delhi has followed the policy of non-alignment which could be synonymous with neutrality, and of late, multi-alignment which is certainly not neutrality. Given the historical relations between India and Russia, New Delhi has to take a call whether to go or not to go to this conference. South Block has so far deferred the decision to after-Parliamentary elections in the country.
It is high time that New Delhi makes a strategic decision on attending the peace conference. In terms of real politik, it may not be an easy decision. But there has to be a balance between international rules and national interest, the former should ideally be privileged. New Delhi has the image of adopting ethical standards in her foreign policy. India’s first Prime Minister Nehru was often accused of being too ethical and less pragmatic. Shashi Tharoor, a former UN bureaucrat and a present Indian law maker, commented that, “Nehru’s foreign policy was like a moral commentary to the world.” Tharoor implied that Nehru perhaps diluted India’s national interests.
Be that as it may; it is part of history. What should New Delhi do now? For various reasons, India has a credible reckoning in the world. The Swiss Foreign Minister preceded by Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, thinks that India should attend this conference. New Delhi’s presence will make a significant impact on the proceedings. As a close partner of Russia, a member of the BRICS and SCO, a leader in the Global South and an aspirant for world leadership, India is at the top of the list of invitees.
The Swiss Foreign Minister said to the Indian media, “India is a friend of peace. India has great experience in conflict transformation and peace promotion. The expectation really is that we can work together and count on India’s support”. Invitations have gone to 160 or so countries for the conference on June 15-16, out of them, 50 countries have confirmed their attendance.
The countries that have agreed to participate in the conference are mostly from the European Union, NATO alliance, G-7 countries and the close allies of USA like Japan, South Korea and Australia. Interestingly, Russia has not been invited. The Swiss Foreign Minister clarified that their approach was to bring over the BICS leaders, BRICS minus Russia. They would convey the outcome of the discussion in the conference to Moscow, and later invite the Russian leadership for another round of talks. Two BRICS members, South Africa and Brazil have declined the invitation for respective reasons. Therefore, the world attention is on China and India whether they will attend or not.
India is in the midst of Parliamentary elections. The counting of votes is on 4th of June. The new government should decide on the invitation. The incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, has agreed to participate in the peace summit. At the time of writing, India is the only country from the Global South to have agreed to attend the conference. Modi said in an interview to a newspaper, “India will participate in all important summits that promote global peace, security and development as an agenda”. However, the level of participation is yet to be decided.
Any peace process in Ukraine will be futile or inconclusive without the participation of Russia. The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Without Russia, discussing security issues that concern us is absolutely futile. Most likely, it will be just empty scholasticism with no prospect of getting at least tangible result”. Regardless of Russian reaction to the peace initiative, it may appear to be one sided without their participation. Russian leadership is construing it as a pressure tactics by the Western allies.
To the above perceptions, the Swiss argue that the approach they are taking is ‘unorthodox’. It is realised that both sides – Ukraine and Russia – could not be at the same table at this point. It is also true that the conflict cannot be resolved without two parties agreeing to any negotiated framework. The organisers of the conference plan to involve Russia at a later stage, at the next summit. Quite a few issues in addition to a ceasefire, could be discussed in this conference. They are freedom of navigation, food security, nuclear safety and humanitarian issues. For all these, New Delhi has been expressing its concern.
Recall that India has been stressing on dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. The peace conference in Switzerland aims to create a process for dialogue to end this horrible conflict in Ukraine. Also, security and trade go together. India has signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) with EFTA countries earlier this year after 16 years of negotiation. The four European countries constituting EFTA – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – are looking at investing $100 billion in India over the next 15 years. As India and Switzerland are coming closer with a broad-based bilateral framework, New Delhi should respond positively to the invitation for the peace conference. It should not matter whichever party comes to power on 4th of June.
At any rate, the Swiss peace conference is a beginning for more such meetings in pursuit of durable peace between Russia and Ukraine. India should attend the conference to represent the voice of Global South. Conflicts and chaos have a disruptive influence on the developing countries in the Global South. New Delhi will of course be watching the Chinese move vis-à-vis the conference. Remember, China has initiated its own peace process with a 12-point peace formula.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had gone to several European countries including Ukraine to discuss ending of the war. Irrespective of Chinese decision, New Delhi should attend the peace conference to reiterate its position on dialogue and diplomacy, as Narendra Modi had ticked off Vladimir Putin on the fringe of Samarkand summit that, “it is no time for war”. — INFA