‘PM Modi stopped Putin from using nukes’: Poland’s Deputy FM on India’s role in Russia-Ukraine war

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was part of a multinational effort that stopped Russian leader Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine with nuclear weapons in 2022.

Bartoszewski revealed India's quiet role at a press briefing in Delhi during his visit to the capital.

"I mentioned the role Prime Minister Modi played in stopping Putin from using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine at the end of 2022. But it's true, Prime Minister Modi is one of the few people who actually can exert some pressure and influence on President Putin, and that is clearly something India could do to stop this conflict," said Bartoszewski.

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Putin and his allies have frequently threatened Ukraine and Europe with nuclear weapons since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

While Western agencies have not assessed a Russian nuclear attack as imminent at any point over the past four years, they have concluded that Putin's threats were not empty and that he had not ruled out the use of nuclear weapons. In 2024, the US intelligence community assessed that "Russia's inability to achieve quick and decisive battlefield wins, coupled with Ukrainian strikes within Russia, continues to drive concerns that Putin might use nuclear weapons".

As Firstpost has previously covered, such concerns led to a multinational effort involving Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to press Putin against using nuclear force.

'Putin pays attention to Modi'

When asked about the role India could play in the Russia-Ukraine war, Bartoszewski said Modi was among the few leaders in the world to whom Putin listened, putting him in a position to make a difference.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a very well-known world statesman, who is very respected, and India has a long-standing relationship with the Russian Federation and, before that, with the Soviet Union as a non-aligned nation. President Putin actually pays attention to what Prime Minister Modi tells him," said Bartoszewski.

The visit was aimed at exploring the possibility of manufacturing Polish defence platforms in India. India and Poland are interested not only in defence trade but also in joint production, a model the Indian government has adopted with France and Russia and is expanding to other partners. Bartoszewski held talks with Sibi George, Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

“Given the geopolitical situation, we want to increase our cooperation in security and defence. We are talking about concrete examples of not only selling various defence platforms, but also creating joint ventures to produce something in India. We understand the ‘Make in India’ concept of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and so we would have Polish and Indian content on these platforms,” Bartoszewski told IANS.