Emine Dzheppar, First Deputy Minister of Ukraine's foreign ministry, addresses Indian leaders
Ukraine has suggested India to recognise the dangers of not stopping those who prefer to push their agenda with "impunity" in what was seen as alluding to India's two big neighbours - Pakistan and China.
Emine Dzhaparova, the First Deputy Minister of Ukraine's foreign ministry, told the diplomatic corps, former envoys and reporters at the ICWA that the events preceding the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine last year could serve as an example of how to handle "difficult neighbours".
"There is one message with which I have come to India. Ukraine really wants India and Ukraine to be closer. Yes, there is a history between us. But we want to start a new relationship with India," Ms Dzhaparova said at the Delhi-based Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), a government institute of national importance that was set up exclusively to study international relations and foreign affairs.
"India also has a difficult neighbourhood with China and Pakistan. The Crimea episode has a lesson for India as well. Whenever impunity happens and if it is not stopped, it becomes bigger," she said.
Her comments were seen as alluding to India's territorial disputes with Pakistan and China amid the ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, where Chinese troops often try to change the status quo despite de-escalation talks.
Russia seized eastern Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2016, Ukraine was certain Russia was planning a large invasion as President Vladimir Putin ordered troop build-up on its border and resumed hostile rhetoric that preceded his annexation of Crimea two years earlier.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year. The war is still going on.
Ms Dzhaparova, however, made it clear that Ukraine is not in a position to request India about how it maintains its economic relations with other countries, in an apparent reference to New Delhi's energy ties with Moscow. India has been buying cheap Russian oil - despite the West's sanctions on Russia - citing Indians' need for affordable oil comes first before everything else and India will go wherever it gets a good deal.
She said Ukraine would welcome National Security Adviser Ajit Doval if he visits their country. "We expect the visit of Ajit Doval. Russia has more time to make visits. We are facing a war. Sometimes you may want to do something but can't... My visit is a mark of friendship, for a better relationship with India, but it requires reciprocity," Ms Dzhaparova said.
There is speculation that one of the objectives of her visit is to explore the possibility of having Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speak at the G20.
The Ukrainian minister called India a "Vishwaguru". "The message of any spiritual teaching is justice. But sometimes there are countries that choose war. India should play a bigger role... We signed up to the Minsk Agreement because we were weak at that time. But after February 24, this logic will not be acceptable to us," she said, referring to the day of the Russian invasion in 2022, and the previous agreement with Russia after the 2014 Crimea invasion that has some highly disadvantageous clauses for Ukraine.