New Delhi, April 22 : UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday said India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been “strong” in their stand on the killings in Bucha, but added that there is a “difference in balance” because of India’s historic ties with Russia. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Johnson faced a volley of questions on the Ukraine situation, and India’s stand on it. In response to a question, the UK Prime Minister agreed with an intelligence report that the war in Ukraine may last till the end of 2023. He also announced that the UK embassy in Kyiv will be functional again from next week. “Everybody is deeply concerned about the barbarism that we have seen by Vladimir Putin in the Donbas region, particularly his brutal offensive against Mariupol. That is why yesterday I announced we will be sending more artillery and doing everything possible to help the people of Ukraine defend themselves in those areas,” Johnson said. “At the same time the extraordinary fortitude and success of president Zelensky and Ukrainian people in resisting Russian forces in Kyiv, I can announce today next week we will reopen our embassy in Ukraine’s capital city,” he said. Johnson said UK and its allies will not watch passively as Putin carries on this onslaught. Asked if he put any pressure on PM Modi for intervening with Russia, he said after the talks it was “clear” that Modi has “intervened several times”. “You have to recognise that Indians and Narendra Modi have come out being very strong in their language about what has happened in Bucha and talking to PM Modi today it is clear he has already intervened several times. I am sure this is no secret from our Indian friends. What Indians want is peace and they want the Russians out. I totally agree with that,” he said. “There is a difference in the balance clearly because India has a historic relationship with Russia which everybody understands and respects that goes back decades,” he said. He said the position on Russia that Indians have historically is well known. “They are not going to change that of course that is true but they can see what is going on and there is an increasing appetite to do more with the UK if you look at just the security and defence side of it…” Quoting an intelligence report which said the Russian war on Ukraine may last till the end of 2023, and Russia might win, the UK PM said, “The sad thing is that that is a realistic possibility of course Putin has a huge army he has a very difficult political position because he has made a catastrophic blunder. The only option he has now is to continue to use his appalling grinding approach led by artillery trying to grind the Ukrainians down. He is very close to securing a land bridge in Mariupol now. The situation is unpredictable at this stage”. He added that the Ukrainians have shown ‘incredible heroism’, and said, “Vladimir Putin may be able to being in the coming months he will not be able to conquer the spirit of the Ukrainian people”. He said there was a need to think how Ukraine can be helped further, and said UK is looking at providing support to countries like Poland which may send heavy weapons to Ukraine. In response to a question how the UK government would ensure that technologies and weapons that India buys do not go to Russia, he said, “Ban on tech transfer to Russia makes a difference. We have to ensure we keep the ban tight and there are no loopholes.” “I think what we have seen here in New Delhi, one of the world’s oldest democracies and the world’s largest democracy sticking together and confronting our shared anxieties about autocracies and autocratic coercion around the world and acting together to make our country safer and more prosperous,” he said. He said the new expanded defence and security partnership between India and the UK will enable India to strengthen its own domestic defence industry as well as protecting vital shared interests in the Indo-Pacific. “Our partnership with India is particularly powerful in achieving these things because India is an incredible rising power in Asia, one of the fastest growing economies in the world and said to be the world’s third largest economy by 2050. India is also our biggest partner in the Indo-Pacific which is increasingly the geo-political center of the world with two-thirds of humanity and a third of global economy and that share is rising,” he said. Johnson is on a two-day visit to India on the invitation of the Indian Prime Minister. The two sides reviewed progress on the ambitious India-UK Roadmap to 2030, and resolved to advance the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreed last year. AO SHK1950
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
