Amidst new flashpoints between Russia and the United States over Ukraine, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will leave for a visit to Germany and France, where he will meet counterparts from Europe and the U.S. for a number of meetings, including an EU Ministerial meeting on the Indo-Pacific. The visit, which follows close on his visit to Australia to attend the Quad Ministerial meeting, is similarly expected to be overshadowed by tensions in east Europe, where despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of troops withdrawal from the borders with Ukraine, NATO countries continue to warn of a possible “invasion”, as the Russian government expelled a senior American diplomat from the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
When asked about India’s position, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson said that the government’s focus remains on ensuring the safety of Indian citizens, and urged them to leave by commercial flights, if possible, but that it had no “immediate evacuation plans” or plans to send in special aircraft to fly out Indian citizens from the Ukraine.
