India summons senior Russian diplomat over killing of four Indian ship crew
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- India's Ministry of External Affairs summoned Russian chargé d'affaires Vladimir Ladanov on Tuesday to convey New Delhi's 'grave concerns' over the killing of four Indian nationals aboard the cargo ship Golden Leo.
- Ukraine said Russia struck the Guinea-Bissau-flagged Golden Leo with three cruise missiles on Sunday as it departed a Ukrainian port, killing 10 people in total — four Indians and others from Syria.
- The Golden Leo is owned by Mumbai-based Ocean Grace Shipping Ltd, according to LSEG shipping data cited by Reuters.
- India told the Russian diplomat that targeting commercial shipping and causing civilian casualties was 'unacceptable' and said such attacks 'undermine the safety, security, and stability of international maritime commerce.'
- Russia had not responded to a Reuters request for comment on the strike at the time of publication.
- India has separately lost seafarers in the Iran war, prompting earlier protests to both the United States and Iran over those casualties.
Why it matters: India is now pursuing parallel formal casualty complaints with three different powers — Russia over this Black Sea strike, and previously the US and Iran over Iran-war seafarer losses — a rare diplomatic position that puts New Delhi on the civilian-shipping side of multiple conflicts at once.
