Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday said that India and China can play a role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine. Meloni’s remarks came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin also highlighted India’s role in solving the ongoing crisis in the region.
Meloni held a meeting with the visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in northern Italy’s Cernobbio city on Saturday.
“It is obvious that if the rules of international law are broken we will get a multiplication of chaos and crisis, but it is also obvious that with the multiplication of crisis, we will have a natural fragmentation of the geo-economic space, that is, in the long run, economic globalization and questioning of the rules of international law will not walk together. This is what I also said to my Chinese counterparts, we must choose, because the two things do not go together, it is also the reason why I think that in the end nations, like China and India, can play a role and must play a role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine,” said Meloni.
“I believe China and India have a role to play in resolving the conflict. The only thing that cannot happen is to think that the conflict can be solved by abandoning Ukraine. The choice of supporting Ukraine has been first and foremost a choice of national interest, and it’s a choice that won’t change,” Meloni further said.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that China, India and Brazil could act as mediators in potential peace talks over Ukraine on Thursday. According to a Reuters report, Putin said a preliminary agreement reached between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the first weeks of the war at talks in Istanbul, which was never implemented, could serve as the basis for talks.
“We respect our friends and partners who I think are sincerely interested in addressing and resolving all the issues associated with the conflict (with Ukraine). China, Brazil, India… I am in contact with my partners and I have no doubt that the leaders of these countries, and we have the relations of trust and confidence with one another, will be really interested in providing a helping hand,” said Putin.
