NEW DELHI: In a recent interview with NewsX/The Sunday Guardian, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott suggested that India, with its strong military, economic power, and nuclear deterrence, is well-equipped to police a ceasefire in Ukraine. Here are the edited excerpts from the interview:
Q: As you opine that you need to have foreign troops deployed along the border to police the ceasefire when and if it is negotiated and you have proposed that India could perform such a role, do you think Russia, European Union, United States would be accepting of your proposal?
A: Well, I can’t say any of them would not accept it. For one thing, India has historically good relations with Russia for another thing, the Indian Army is a highly competent, widely respected, very professional armed force that would be more than capable of effectively resisting any future Russian attack, should such an attack be made. In fact, I think the presence of a substantial force of Indian troops along any ceasefire line would all but guarantee Russia would never attack Ukraine. Let’s face it, India doesn’t just have a very formidable conventional armed forces but India is also a nuclear power. So, the idea that India would be intimidated by president Putin’s nuclear bullying, I just don’t think (incoherent).
So, if you can’t have serious armed forces, from, say, Britain and France there I think that an acceptable alternative option would be having significant armed forces from India there. Not only would this be a wonderful contribution by India towards a more peaceful world but it would also be a sign to the whole world that India is prepared to start shouldering some of the responsibilities to the wider world which come with the kind
Q: Okay so there are world leaders, different heads of states who have also gone about and spoken about India’s role of a possible mediator because of its cordial relations with Russia or for that matter with the United States of America or a number of European Union nations, they see India as a role that is acceptable to the world to negotiate a possible peace deal, so why has it not happened up until now?
A: Well that’s a very good question and I can’t really answer that but the truth is that India is a very credible country with the strong economy now the world’s 5th largest with strong armed forces with its own nuclear deterrence I think India is certainly much better placed than a country such as turkey for instance to act as a potential mediator and as I said, given that they do have a significant presence of serious foreign troops on the ground to act as a guarantee of any ceasefire, I can’t think of a better country than India, if the British and the French, for whatever reason, are not acceptable.