Ukraine President criticises Modi’s diplomacy
December 12, 2014, 6:37 am

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was speaking at Lowy Institute in Australia on 12 December 2014 [Image: Lowy Institute]

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko suggested on Friday that India seems to be placing more importance on “money” over “values” by harbouring trade ties with the Crimean leader. Poroshenko was speaking at Lowy Institute in Australia on Friday.

“It is not an easy job to keep the world together. This is the difference between money and values. The closer you are to civilization nations, values is much more important to you than money. You can be bought by money, contracts…,” the Ukrainian President said in a dig at the pact signed between an Indian business association and the Crimean government.

“The Indian position doesn’t help, it doesn’t save Mr Aksyanov. He is a criminal, it’s very simple. He has a criminal background and no doubt he has a criminal future,” said Poroshenko.

The head of the Crimean government Aksyonov signed a memorandum of understanding between Crimea and the Indian-Crimean Partnership, an association of Indian business circles on the sidelines of his trip on Thursday.

A group of Indian businessmen and Indian journalists will visit Crimea under the agreement, said a Russian news agency Tass report.

India earlier broke with the international community in acknowledging that Russia has legitimate interests in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday in the Indian capital where the two sides inked crucial energy deals, including Rosneft’s 10-year oil delivery contract of 10 million tons per year with India.

“We have a strategic partnership that is incomparable. Russia our foremost defence partner since decades,” said Modi at a joint press conference following talks with Putin.

The vast array of deals signed between Russia and India, including an economic partnership with Crimea comes weeks ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to India. Obama has insisted on US attempts to “isolate” Putin internationally and expose Russia to a spiralling trade war with the west.

New Delhi has supported Moscow over the Ukraine crisis, with Modi saying that dialogue has to replace the current blame-game.

“There is a saying in India that the person who should throw a stone first is the person who has not committed any sins. In the world right now, a lot of people want to give advice. But look within them, and they too have sinned in some way. Ultimately, India’s view point is that efforts need to be made to sit together and talk, and to resolve problems in an ongoing process,” Modi told a US broadcaster in September.

 TBP