NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida urged India’s Narendra Modi on Saturday to take a tougher line on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while two former US presidents, Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush, showed support for the country during their visit to a Ukrainian church in Chicago.

Unlike fellow members of the Quad alliance — Japan, Australia and the United States — India has abstained in UN votes deploring Russia’s actions, calling only for a halt to the violence while still buying Russian oil.

Kishida told a joint news conference that he and Modi held an “in-depth discussion” and that “Russia’s invasion... shakes the very foundations of the international order and must be dealt with firmly.”

But Modi made no direct mention of Ukraine and their joint written statement afterwards called only “for an immediate cessation of violence and noted that there was no other choice but the path of dialogue and diplomacy for resolution of the conflict”.

Clinton, Bush show solidarity with Kyiv over Moscow’s aggression

Without naming any country, they “emphasised the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law without resorting to threat or use of force or any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo”.

Earlier this month in a four-way call, the other Quad leaders — Kishida, US President Joe Biden and Australia’s Scott Morrison — also failed to win the Indian premier over to their position on Ukraine.

A joint Quad statement at the time said they “discussed the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and assessed its broader implications” — without any condemnation of Moscow.

A separate Indian readout pointedly underlined that the alliance must remain focused on its “core objective... in the Indo-Pacific region” of promoting peace, stability and prosperity.

Two former US presidents, Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush, showed their support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion by visiting a Ukrainian church in Chicago.

The two men, who wore blue and yellow ribbons in the colors of Ukraine’s flag, laid bouquets of sunflowers, the country’s national emblem, in front of the Catholic Church of Saints Volodymyr and Olha before taking a moment to reflect.

The initiative aimed to show their “solidarity with the people of Ukraine” after Russia launched a war against its neighbour last month, according to a video of the visit posted on Clinton’s Twitter account. “America stands united with the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom and against oppression,” the tweet said.

That sets the 42nd and 43rd US presidents apart from Donald Trump, the 45th president, who just before the invasion described Vladimir Putin’s strategy of amassing troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine and then recognising the independence of two pro-Russian separatist territories as a stroke of “genius.”

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2022