- Saturday, July 06, 2024
Speaking to DW on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the Indian official said New Delhi is standing by its close relationship with Moscow, adding that it is ‘on the side of peace’.
By: Shubham Ghosh
JAIVEER Shergill, the national spokesperson of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that India’s ties with Russia are based on friendship and that Moscow was, is and will remain a strong ally of New Delhi amid strong reactions from the West following the death of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader and critic of president Vladimir Putin, in prison in Friday (16).
Speaking to DW on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in the German city of Munich that concluded on Sunday (18), the Indian official said New Delhi is standing by its close relationship with Moscow, adding that the South Asian nation is “on the side of peace”, refusing to join the condemnation of Navalny’s death.
Shergill, a lawyer by profession, said this when asked by the German public broadcaster about India’s ties with Russia in light of Navalny’s death.
Read: Alexei Navalny, top critic of Kremlin, dies in prison: ‘A sign of Putin brutality’
The news that has really been shaking the event here today is the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader,” the DW reporter asked the BJP official.
“India has maintained good relations with Russia for decades and also through the war the last couple of years. When something like this happens, what goes through your mind and what are the kind of calculations in Delhi, is this Russia that you want to be doing business with?” the reporter asked.
Answering this, Shergill said, “Russia was, is and will remain India’s strong friend and ally. As a nation, Russia has supported India and India, in turn, has supported Russia. India has also been very clear vocal in the G20 declaration and before that at every summit. India has on the side of the peace; India does not support any form of violence. India does not support any form of terrorism when you talk about any particular incident. New Delhi believes in the resolution on any form of dispute and upholding the rule of law.”
The BJP spokesperson said New Delhi’s foreign policy is very specific and that is to be on the side of peace and not war.
“Any party is on the side of war, any party is on perpetual violence, India does not stand but as far as Russia and Ukraine are concerned, the G20 declaration which had unanimity amongst all the member nations, it said that Russia and Ukraine should come to a unanimous solution,” Shergill was quoted as saying.
India has not condemned Russia over its military adventure in Ukraine that completes two years this month. It has also continued to buy cheap oil from Russia at a time when the West imposed sanctions on Moscow, even as New Delhi maintained friendly ties with the western nations.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Putin during a meeting in Samarkand in Uzbekistan in September 2022 that “this is not an era of war”, which was lauded by the West. Also, New Delhi managed to come out with a joint declaration at the G20 summit in September last year, ending speculation that a deep polarisation in the international fraternity might take a toll on the grouping and it could fail to reach a consensus.
