UK ambassador accuses Kremlin of war crimes in Ukraine as she calls for a halt to aggression

Samaan Lateef in Mumbai

Dec 2, 2025

Britain’s High Commissioner to India has ignited a diplomatic row by stating that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the Ukraine war.

Lindy Cameron, along with the ambassadors of France and Germany, said in a joint editorial published ahead of Putin’s two-day state visit to India that Russia was not serious about peace and had committed war crimes.

The article, published in the Times of India, has led to a backlash in the pro-Russian country, with the envoys accused of “embarrassing” and “insulting” India and interfering in their affairs.

The article, signed by Ms Cameron, Philipp Ackermann of Germany and Thierry Mathou of France, said Russia launched an “unprovoked war of aggression” that it could “end tomorrow”.

They wrote: “Every day sees new indiscriminate Russian attacks in this illegal war, targeting civilian infrastructure, destroying homes, hospitals, and schools. These are not the actions of someone that is serious about peace.

“Russia is the only nation that wants this war and it is up to it to put a halt to this aggression.”

Kanwal Sibal, India’s former foreign secretary, said: “This vicious article against Russia just before Putin’s state visit to India breaches diplomatic norms, is a diplomatic insult to India as it questions India’s close ties with a very friendly third country.

“It is interference in our internal affairs as the purpose is to fuel anti-Russian sentiments in pro-European circles in India and question the morality of our ties with Russia.”

Mr Sibal, who previously served as ambassador to France and Russia, accused the diplomats of having an “overt propagandist intent” and asked India’s foreign ministry to condemn “this violation of diplomatic norms”.

Vikram Sood, former head of India’s foreign intelligence agency, parroted the Kremlin narrative that the West was responsible for provoking Russia into invading Ukraine.

He said: “The Americans promised not an inch eastward yet gobbled up many east Europeans into Nato. That is how it started.”

Sreemoy Talukdar, a prominent Indian journalist, said the article was in “poor taste” and was “an intent to embarrass us before the Russian president”.

Sreemoy Talukdar

@sreemoytalukdar

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With Putin’s visit imminent, the article by British high commissioner Lindy Cameron and two others should not have been published in an Indian media outlet. The article is a clear attempt at interference in India’s foreign policy, and has been written with an intent to embarrass Show more

Putin will embark on a two-day visit to India on Thursday, where he will hold talks with Narendra Modi, the prime minister, and try to drum up sales of Russian oil, missile systems and fighter jets in a bid to restore energy and defence ties.

Russia has supplied arms to India for decades, with New Delhi emerging as its top buyer of seaborne oil despite Western sanctions after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Last month, Indian refiners quietly paused new purchases of Russian oil after Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Moscow’s top energy firms.

The state-run Indian Oil Corporation and Reliance Industries together account for about half of the Kremlin’s crude exports.

The European Union, the UK and the United States have imposed a series of sanctionsagainst Russia as part of president Donald Trump’s push to cut Moscow’s energy revenues that it uses to fund its war in Ukraine.

India does not plan to freeze defence ties with Moscow anytime soon, Rajesh Kumar Singh, the defence secretary, said last week.

On his first visit in four years to the Indian capital for a summit with Mr Modi, Putin will be accompanied by his defence minister, Andrei Belousov, and a wide-ranging delegation from business and industry.