India has summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires after an attack in the Ukrainian port of Odessa left four Indian sailors dead.
Vladimir Ladanov was summoned to hear India’s grave concerns and unequivocal condemnation of the attack on the commercial vessel MV Golden Leo on July 19, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ministry said the attack resulted in the tragic loss of four Indian lives. “Such attacks undermine the safety, security, and stability of international maritime commerce,” it said.
The Russian official was asked to convey India’s strong concerns to Moscow “that the targeting of commercial shipping and the resulting loss of innocent civilian lives are unacceptable and must be avoided.”
Moscow is yet to comment on the summons of its diplomat by New Delhi.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that “the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued strikes on Ukrainian ports being used in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
“Using precision air-launched weapons and loitering munitions, Russian forces struck fuel and lubricant storage tanks intended for the Ukrainian military at the Port of Odessa,” the statement said.
India also recently summoned the Iranian and US envoys following attacks on commercial ships in the Middle East.
Iran’s deputy chief of mission in New Delhi was called in on July 14 after an attack on two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz left an Indian crew member dead and injured eight others, the second such incident in less than a week, after hostilities resumed in the Middle East over the control of the strategic waterway.
In June, India summoned US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi twice in one week, demanding action to protect the lives of civilians after repeated US attacks on merchant ships off the coast of Oman.