S Jaishankar also strongly justified India’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
New Delhi:
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has indicated that India is ready to consider playing the role of mediator to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict if approached, but said New Delhi believes That he should not start anything on his own.
In an interview with the German economic daily Handelsblatt, he also said that after the Ukraine conflict, India’s energy suppliers in the Middle East preferred to supply petroleum products to Europe, which paid higher prices and had access to Russian crude near New Delhi. There was no option other than purchasing oil. Oil.
Mr Jaishankar stressed that just as India does not expect Europe to have the same approach to China as New Delhi, Europe must understand that India cannot have the same approach to Russia as Europe. Is.
He said India has had “stable” and “very friendly” relations with Russia and Moscow has never harmed New Delhi’s interests.
“On the other hand, for example, we had a much more difficult relationship politically and militarily with China,” he said.
On India’s continued military cooperation with Russia despite the Ukraine conflict, Jaishankar said it continues “because many Western countries have for a long time preferred to supply to Pakistan and not to India.” Jaishankar said India was “deeply confident, and publicly committed, to ending the conflict”.
He said, “Everyone is suffering from this conflict. I don’t know how it will end, we are not deep enough in the process to know.”
Asked if there was no reason why India could be a mediator, Mr Jaishankar said: “In principle, yes. We have already helped on very specific issues.” “For example, when Turkey negotiated the corridor through the Black Sea. And we were very supportive of the inspection of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” he said.
He said, “Wherever we can help, we will be happy to do so. We help with an open heart when we are approached. However, we believe that we should do nothing ourselves in this direction.” Shouldn’t start.”
Turkey played a key role in activating the corridor to transport grain from Ukraine to various world markets after Russia had blocked it following the escalation of its conflict with Ukraine.
Mr Jaishankar also strongly justified India’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
Jaishankar said, “When the fighting in Ukraine started, Europe shifted a large part of its energy purchases to the Middle East – which until then was the main supplier to India and other countries.”
“What should we have done? In many cases, our Middle East suppliers preferred Europe because Europe paid a higher price. Either we would have had no energy because everything would have gone to them. Or we would have been paid too much.” Had to do more because you were paying more,” he said.
“In a certain way, we kind of stabilized the energy market,” he said.
His response came when he was asked about criticism against India in Europe that purchases of Russian crude are detrimental to the effectiveness of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
The Foreign Minister argued that if no one had bought crude oil from Russia and everyone had bought it from other countries, prices in the energy market would have risen even higher.
“Global inflation would have been much higher – and it would have been a bigger political issue in low-income countries,” he said.
He said, “If Europe wanted to maximize the damage at that time, it would have to completely close all economic relations with Russia. But that did not happen.”
Mr Jaishankar said if Europe was so confident and principles were so important, why did it allow relations to end “gradually”? “Why were there exceptions for pipeline gas, individual countries, etc.? That’s what governments do, they manage politics keeping in mind the consequences for their people,” he said.
Asked whether India would like support from Europe in its border conflict with China in 2020, Mr Jaishankar said, “My point is: Just as I don’t expect Europe to have the same view of China as I do, Europe should It must be understood that I cannot have a view of Russia that is European.” “Let us accept that there are natural differences in relationships,” he said.
On whether India-Russia engagement is a burden on India-Europe relations, Mr Jaishankar said everyone builds relationships based on their past experiences.
He said, “If I look at the history of India after independence, Russia has never harmed our interests. Everyone has seen ups and downs in the relations with powers like Europe, America, China or Japan. “
He said, “Our relationship with Russia has been stable and always very friendly. And our relationship with Russia today is based on this experience. For others, things were different, and conflicts may have shaped the relationship.”
Asked whether India has recently agreed to greater arms cooperation with Russia and whether the country is still the most important arms supplier to New Delhi, Mr Jaishankar said: “In terms of inventory, yes, because many Western “Countries have long preferred to supply to Pakistan and not India.” “But this has changed over the last 10 or 15 years with the US, for example, and our new purchases have diversified and the US, Russia, France and Israel are the main suppliers,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
