India Quietly Attends Meeting On Ukraine Reconstruction While Putin Praises PM Narendra Modi As A Friend Of Russia

India has, without announcement, attended a fund raising conference for rebuilding Ukraine's war ravaged economy, in London.

The conference — Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC), is held annually to help finance the rebuilding of Ukraine after the Russia-Ukraine war, and before, the 2014 Russia's intervention in Donbass.

The first URC conference was held in London in 2017.

According to World Bank, Ukraine needs $14 billion just in 2023 for its rebuilding efforts, for a total reconstruction cost of $411 billion.

This years agenda for the URC 2023 is to "focus on mobilising international support for Ukraine’s economic and social stabilisation and recovery from the effects of war, including through emergency assistance for immediate needs and financing private sector participation in the reconstruction process."

According to sources, the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Vikram Doraiswami, along with some private sector firms attended the conference.

However, there was no announcement of this visit.

Neither the High Commission in London nor the Ministry of External Affairs published a press statement or a tweet about attending the conference.

In comparison, America and the European Union sent their top level leaders like Anthony Blinken and Ursula Von Der Leyen.

This is coming at a time when Russian President Putin claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be a great friend and highlighted the significant impact of the 'Make-in-India' campaign on the Indian economy.

According to RT, Russian President Vladimir Putin while speaking at a event in Moscow cited India as an example of a country encouraging companies to develop, manufacture, and assemble products locally.

He was urging domestic Russian companies to start utilising business opportunities created after the western sanctions, citing India's example.

Putin said, "Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the “Make in India” initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it."