"Not For Me To Tell...": UK PM Rishi Sunak On India's Stance On Ukraine War

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday said that India respects the rule of law and that it is not his position to advise it on what position to take on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"Well, it's not for me to tell India what positions to take on international issues. But I know India rightly cares about the international rule of law, the UN Charter and has respect for territorial integrity. I think there are things that have universal values that we all share. Those are things that I believe and India, I know, believes in those things too" Sunak said.

India has maintained that Russia needs to pursue the path of dialogue and diplomacy for an early resolution of the conflict.

The British Prime Minister arrived in Delhi today for the two-day G20 Summit, which begins tomorrow.

In an interview with news agency ANI, the UK Prime Minister said that he was looking to highlight the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict at the summit.

"When it comes to Ukraine and Russia in conflict one thing will highlight is the devastating impact that Russia's illegal invasion is having on millions of people around the world, particularly on food prices. Russia recently pulled out of a grain deal that was shipping grain from Ukraine to many poor countries around the world and now you've seen food prices have gone up. That is causing suffering for millions of people," Mr Sunak said.

"It's not right, and one of the things I'll be doing is making people aware of that impact of Russia's illegal war," he said.

In July, Russia terminated its participation in a deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain. The agreement was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022 and permitted Ukrainian ships to get around a Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports and safely navigate the waterway to Turkey's Bosphorus Strait in order to access international markets.

Russia is being represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the G20, who will be attending the summit on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Russia-Ukraine conflict casting a possible shadow on the outcome of the meeting of the Group of 20 Developed Economies, Rishi Sunak said that he believed that the G20 under India's presidency would make "good progress."

"I think there will be many things that we will be discussing here at the G20 under India's leadership, and I am confident that we will make very good progress on a range of different issues," Mr Sunak said.

"I think the G20 has been a huge success for India. India is the right country at the right time to be hosting this and I feel we're going to have a very good couple of days of deliberations and decisions made," Rishi Sunak said.

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