India and the United Kingdom should "deepen" relation as the world is facing threats from autocracies, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday pointing at Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Mr. Johnson said U.K. prefers to raise concerns about India's human rights record "in private and in a friendly manner" and expressed optimism of concluding discussion on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement by Diwali. Prime Minister Johnson also agreed that there is a “realistic possibility” of Russia winning the war in Ukraine.
"The way in which the situation is not just in Ukraine but around the world is obliging the UK and India to do more. Their relation with Russia is well known. (But) India came out with very strong language on Bucha (massacre)," said Mr. Johnson in response to a question during a press conference. The visiting leader drew attention to the excesses allegedly committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine and termed them "barbaric".
Earlier in the day, Mr. Johnson was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan which was followed by delegation level talks and sealing of agreements. An agreement on Implementation of Global Innovation Partnership was signed between the Ministry of External Affairs and U.K.'s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Department of Atomic Energy of India and the Department of Business, Energy and Innovation Strategy of UK signed the second MoU on Cooperation on Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership.
In his statement delivered after official talks, Mr. Modi said India and the U.K. will co-finance up to $100 million for transfer and scaling-up of "Made in India" innovations to third countries
"Teams of both countries are working on the subject of Free Trade Agreement. Good progress is being made in the negotiations," said Mr Modi. The UK PM addressed the issue of Ukraine in detail in the personal press conference but remained silent about the Russian aggression while delivering his statement before the media at the Hyderabad House with PM Modi. "Russia will not be able to conquer the Ukrainian people," he said. He also announced that UK will reopen its embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv next week.
However, he indicated that the war between Russia and the Ukrainian forces is unequal as Russia has a “huge army”. “The sad thing is that is a realistic possibility. He (Putin) has a very difficult political position because he has made a catastrophic blunder. He has the only option now is to continue to try to use his grinding approach, led by the artillery trying to grind the Ukrainians down,” said Mr Johnson accepting that he got “realistic” about the ground situation in Ukraine.
Mr Johnson said that his team raised "tough consular questions" with the Indian side during delegation level talks at the Hyderabad House. He praised Indian democracy as a "shining, stunning" example in a world which is facing growing challenges from autocratic coercion in Ukraine and in the Indo-Pacific but also mentioned that the nature of India-UK relation provides space for raising uncomfortable issues like perceived democratic backsliding in India.
"Of course, we have these conversations (on human rights or democratic values). The advantage of our friendship is that we can have them in private in a friendly way," said Prime Minister Johnson. Briefing the media about the delegation level talks, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that the Indian side raised the presence of the Khalistani elements inside the United Kingdom.
Mr. Johnson kept London's position on the matter and said UK does not encourage extremist forces to operate from the British territory and added, "We have set up an anti-extremist task force to help India." He also expressed UK's position on the presence of wanted fugitives like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya in the U.K. and said "We don't welcome people who want to use our legal system to evade the law in India." Both sides also discussed defence cooperation that would benefit India's fighter jet programme as well as "underwater battlespace".
