Europe should understand that I cannot have a view of Russia that is identical to the European one: S.Jaishankar

Minister of External Affairs of India S.Jaishankar has defended India’s cordial relationship with Russia amidst pressure from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) countries to take a stance on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “Everyone conducts a relationship based on their past experiences. If I look at the history of India post-independence, Russia has never hurt our interests. We have had a stable and always very friendly relationship with Russia. And our relationship with Russia today is based on this experience,” Jaishankar said in an interview with the German media outlet Handelsblatt. 

He also pointed to the western countries’ foreign policy acting against Indian interest to give further clarity to his point. “Many Western countries have long preferred to supply Pakistan and not India. But that trend has changed in the past 10 or 15 years with the USA, for example, and our new purchases have diversified with the USA, Russia, France, and Israel, as the main supplier. My point is, just as I do not expect Europe to have a view of China that is identical to mine, Europe should understand that I cannot have a view of Russia that is identical to the European one. Let us accept that there are natural differences in relationships,” Jaishankar mentioned.