External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed India’s concerns about the safety of sailors in the Black Sea region to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday, three days after four Indian sailors were killed in a Russian attack on a merchant ship off the coast of Ukraine.
Jaishankar and Lavrov, who met on the sidelines of ASEAN-related meetings in the Philippine capital, Manila, also reviewed bilateral relations, including cooperation in trade, energy and connectivity.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Russian Chargé d’Affaires Vladimir Ladanov on Tuesday to express its “categorical condemnation” of the Russian attack on the Guinea Bissau-flagged ship MV Golden Leo that left 10 people dead, including four Indian crew members, and seriously injured another Indian sailor.
“We emphasized our grave concern about the safety of Indian sailors in the region,” Jaishankar said on social media after what he described as an in-depth review of bilateral relations with Lavrov. He did not give details.
He said: “We discussed various aspects of our partnership, including trade, investment, energy, connectivity, science, technology and mobility. We also exchanged views on the conflict in Ukraine and the situation in the Gulf.”
The Ministry of External Affairs conveyed to the Russian Chargé d’Affaires India’s “deep concern and unequivocal condemnation” of the attack on the merchant ship as it was leaving Odessa port.
The Indian side stressed that “such attacks undermine the safety, security and stability of international maritime trade.” He asked the Russian side to avoid targeting commercial ships to avoid losing the lives of innocent civilians.
This was the first time Indian sailors were killed in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. More than six Indian sailors have also been killed in Iranian and US attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.
India has supported dialogue and diplomacy to end the conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, highlighting the costs to the global South due to the impact of the war on fuel, fertilizer and food supplies. In his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that this is not an era of war, and peace talks cannot succeed under arms.
