Ukraine issue must be solved; India stands for peace: Rajnath Singh

Ballia (UP): Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday that Russia-Ukraine border conflicts must be resolved through talks and added that India stands for peace, PTI reported.

Singh was addressing a polls campaign meeting at Banshi Bazar in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district. He said that as per the latest information, the United States President has informed that the US is ready to hold talks with the Russian President.

The US President has taken a strong initiative, and when talks take place, "some way or other will come out," he said. He added that India wanted peace and always stood for world peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared that Moscow recognised the independence of two states of Ukraine on Monday. Following that, India's permanent representative to the UN Security Council, TS Tirumurthi, demanded restraint from all parties in a UNSC meeting as tensions between NATO and Russia escalated. He had also called for a de-escalation of Russian troops and a resolution to the issue through diplomatic dialogue.

Russia had deployed heavy troops along the Ukraine border and demanded NATO to stop admitting Ukraine and other former Soviet nations its members. It also demanded NATO withdraw deployments from these nations.

Meanwhile, Putin demanded other countries to recognise the two states of Ukraine as independent, following Moscow's path. He added that it was "not easy for Moscow to recognise the states' independence, but it was the only possible step".

After he made the declaration on Monday, he had directed the Russian army to send troops to the two states as "peacekeepers", Agence France-Presse reported.