Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Polish counterpart Donald Tusk have given their bilateral ties a boost.
Tusk and Modi, who is the first Indian premier to visit the Eastern European state in 45 years and the first to travel to Ukraine, elevated Warsaw-New Delhi ties to the level of strategic partnership.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Poland has expanded its military, becoming a key defense hub on NATO‘s eastern flank. The country has doubled its troop count since 2014, with defense outlays this year rising to 4 percent of its GDP this year, according to Reuters, double the 2 percent commitment of NATO members.
Polish troops stand in formation at the headquarters of NATO Multinational Corps Northeast prior to the visit of a foreign dignitary on February 2 in Szczecin, Poland.
Polish troops stand in formation at the headquarters of NATO Multinational Corps Northeast prior to the visit of a foreign dignitary on February 2 in Szczecin, Poland.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Poland has already sent more than $4 billion worth of defense equipment to Ukraine since the invasion, including Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets and upgraded T-72 tanks. Meanwhile, India has steered a more neutral course between the West and Russia, its top source for arms imports and crude oil.
Moscow and Warsaw are marking seven decades of diplomatic ties this year, India’s foreign ministry noted in a statement on Wednesday.
“Recognizing their long-standing ties, reaffirming the deep-rooted bonds of friendship between their countries and peoples, and commitment to realizing the full potential of their ties, the two leaders decided to elevate India-Poland bilateral relations to the level of a “strategic partnership,” the ministry added.
Modi and Putin agreed to enhance trade and investment ties and to seek “new mutually beneficial areas of cooperation.”
They also “expressed their deepest concern over the war raging in Ukraine, including its terrible and tragic humanitarian consequences,” and observed that the conflict negatively impacts international energy and food security, particularly for the developing world.”
Notably, the two leaders invoked the United Nations charter in a condemnation of force, or the threat of force, against the sovereignty of any country.
The Polish and Russian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to written requests for comment.
Modi’s visit comes as battle lines shift in the Russia-Ukraine war, now halfway through its third year. Ukraine’s surprise incursion into the Russian border region of Kursk has left Moscow’s forces scrambling to respond, while Russia is relentlessly pressing forward in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Modi last month traveled to Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin. He was criticized in Kyiv for his embrace of the Russian leader but also told him the solution to the war “cannot be found on the battlefield.”
Rajan Menon, Emeritus Anne and Bernard Spitzer Chair in Political Science at the City College of New York, believes there is a “convergence of interest” between New Delhi and Kyiv.
“Ukraine, for its part, knows that it needs far more success in building support in the Global South, in which India is a leading voice,” Menon previously told Newsweek.
“Because Modi’s India aspires to a global leadership role, it wants to retain as much diplomatic flexibility as possible as the war in Ukraine continues—perhaps so as to play a role in an eventual political settlement, Menon said. “Ukraine, for its part, knows that it needs far more success in building support in the Global South, in which India is a leading voice.
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