S Jaishankar: India was asked to defuse Zaporizhzhia N-Plant crisis

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Nakul Shivani • 1 Years ago
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar

 

Auckland

On his first visit to New Zealand, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar termed the Russia-Ukraine conflict as still hot and recalled that India was requested to press the Russians on the issue regarding the safety of Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.

Addressing the Auckland business community on Thursday, Jaishankar said, "When I was in the United Nations, the big concern at that time was the safety of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant because there was some fighting going on very proximate to it."

"There was a request to us to press the Russians on that issue which we did. There have been other concerns at various points of time, either different countries have raised with us or the UN has raised with us. I think at this time whatever we can do, we will be willing to do," the EAM added.

Jaishankar said India may have had an impact on the UN-mediated grain deal that was worked out between Ukraine and Russia in August.

"Some months ago, when there was this initiative to get the grain out through the Black Sea. The UN, which was leading the effort, were interested in our weighing in with the Russians. I have my own reasons to think, to know that somewhere, that our speaking to them had some impact and it did come back to us", he added.

Terming the conflict "still hot", the external affairs minister said that he doesn't see countries that would disregard India's position and people would view it from their point of immediate interest, their historical experiences, and their insecurities.

Explaining India's position on the war in Ukraine, Jaishankar said it is natural that different countries, different regions would react a little differently.

On Wednesday, Russian Presid"ent Vladimir Putin ordered his government to take control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, as the UN nuclear watchdog warned that the power supply to the site was "extremely fragile.

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The plant is located in the southern Ukrainian region also called Zaporizhzhia, one of four regions that President Vladimir Putin formally incorporated into Russia on Wednesday in a move condemned by Kyiv as an illegal land grab.