- Sunday, February 23, 2025
The Indian external affairs minister’s words come in the wake of the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and speculation that New Delhi might help resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said that his country shares a “stable and very friendly” relationship with Russia and the latter has “never hurt” its interests.
Speaking to German daily Handelsblatt this week, the diplomat defended long-standing ties between New Delhi and Moscow and his words come at a time when the West is strongly condemning the death of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and critic of president Vladimir Putin, in a prison in that country.
Jaishankar’s remarks also come amid speculation that India might help resolve the conflict in Ukraine that, according to the US intelligence, has seen more than 70,000 deaths — including civilian and military.
Read: India’s stand on Alexei Navalny death in Russia? This is what Modi’s BJP official said
“Everyone conducts a relationship based on past experiences. If I look at the history of post-independence India, Russia has never hurt our interests. We have always had a stable and very friendly relationship… and our relationship with Moscow today is based on this experience,” the diplomat was quoted as saying.
Read: Alexei Navalny, top critic of Kremlin, dies in prison: ‘A sign of Putin brutality’
India has not condemned Russia since it launched its military adventure in Ukraine in February 2022 and also continued to buy cheap oil from Moscow despite the West imposing sanctions on Russia.
Jaishankar, who is in Germany where he attended the just concluded Munich Security Conference, said after sanctions were imposed on Russia, richer nations from the West could afford to purchase oil from the suppliers in the Middle East at consequentially inflated prices while New Delhi continued to buy from Moscow at moderated prices.
“If no one bought crude oil from Russia, and everyone bought crude oil from other countries, the prices on the energy market would have shot up even further,” the Indian minister told the German publication.
He had also said previously that India’s purchases of Russian oil are marginal, compared to volumes bought earlier by European nations.
He told India’s NDTV last August that every country tries to clinch the best possible deal for its citizens and India was no different.
A year ago, Jaishankar had advised to focus on Europe’s purchases from Russia. He said India’s total purchases for a month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon. He made the comment with US secretary of state Antony Blinken by his side.
When asked about the West not backing India during the 2020 military stand-off with China in Ladakh, Jaishankar said he did not expect the West to assess the nuances of India’s equations with China, just as he might not appreciate subtexts in their relationships with Beijing.
