'Timing Unusual': MEA's Response To Op-Ed By Three Envoys Ahead Of Putin's India Visit

An opinion piece critiquing Russian President Vladimir Putin has been garnering attention ahead of his two-day visit to India on Dec. 4 and 5, NDTV reported on Wednesday.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has given its retort to the opinion piece and raised eyebrows around the "unusual timing" of the article. Further adding that it is not an "acceptable diplomatic practice to give public advice on India's relations with a third country."

The piece was written by three Western Envoys, namely Philipp Ackermann, Thierry Mathou and Lindy Cameron on Dec. 1, for English daily Times of India.

Former Foreign Secretary of India Kanwal Sibal called the article a "vicious piece" and said that it breaches diplomatic norms, while criticising the article via a post on X.

He also termed it as a diplomatic insult to India "as it questions India’s close ties with a very friendly third country."

"It is interference in our internal affairs as the purpose is to fuel anti- Russian sentiments in pro- European circles in India and question the morality of our ties with Russia. The envoys of these three countries are free to make their views known to the MEA in an official demarche but are not supposed to engage in public grandstanding with an overt propagandist intent", he stated in his post.

The opinion piece criticises Russia's war on Ukraine and calls out the country on various peace treaty violations over the years, stating that President Putin is one leader that can stop the war "any time he so wishes."

Further, it goes on to condemn Russia's activities even beyond the Ukraine war taking hits at the Russian leadership's alleged greed for territorial expansion.

"Russia's malign global activity, including through cyber-attacks and disinformation, shows us that the Russian leadership's appetite for territorial expansion and global destabilisation goes well beyond Ukraine", the piece stated.

TOI had also put out a counter opinion piece by Russian envoy to India Denis Alipov, which pulled apart the article written by the three envoys.