India’s balancing act on the war in Ukraine is becoming more difficult, but New Delhi’s unique position – as a friend of both Russia and the West – could see it emerge as a key mediator, experts have told Al Jazeera.In a November interview with Times Now, an Indian media outlet, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar argued that he is not trying to cater to the demands of “other people”.On the sidelines of September’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I know that today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.” The premier reiterated this sentiment weeks ago at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Bali.Ahead of the Uzbekistan talks, Russia’s Ambassador to India Denis Alipov had hailed growing economic cooperation, telling Moscow’s TASS news agency: “In the first half of 2022, we saw an unprecedented growth in trade – by July it reached more than $11bn, and was $13.6bn for the entire 2021.New Delhi aims to establish comprehensive free trade agreements not only with the EU, but also with the United Kingdom and Canada next year."