Will India act as mediator to end Russia-Ukraine war? Jaishankar responds
File photo of Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar.
India's External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar repeated New Delhi's position on the Russia-Ukraine war and said that the country's ties with Moscow are based on historical experiences — western sanctions notwithstanding. In an interview with the German daily Handelsblatt, Jaishankar also responded to question if India would act as a mediator to end the Russia-Ukraine war which is set to enter its third year later this month.
Jaishankar said that India is publicly committed to bringing the conflict to an end.
"Everyone is suffering from this conflict. I don't know exactly how it will end, we're not deep enough into the process to know," said the Indian foreign minister.
"Isn't that why you could be a mediator?," the interviewer asked Jaishankar.
"Theoretically, yes," Jaishankar said, adding that New Delhi has already helped with very specific issues.
"Wherever we can help, we are happy to do so. We are open when we are approached. However, we do not believe that we should initiate anything in this direction on our own," added Jaishankar.
Russia has never hurt India's interests: Jaishankar
When asked if the Indo-Russian relationship is a "burden" on the India-Europe relationship due to oil trade between the two countries, Jaishankar said that Russia has never hurt Indian interests.
"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," Jaishankar said.
"The relations of powers like Europe, the US, China or Japan with Russia, they have all seen ups and downs. We have had a stable and always very friendly relationship with Russia. And our relationship with Russia today is based on this experience," said the Indian foreign minister.
Asked if India would have liked support from Europe in conflict with China in 2020, Jaishankar said that just like India does not expect Europe to have a view of China that is identical to India's, Europe should understand that India cannot have a view of Russia that is identical to the European one. "Let us accept that there are natural differences in relationships."
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Jaishankar, when asked about Russia being an important arms supplier to India, slammed the West's longstanding preference to supply Pakistan with arms and not India.
"In terms of inventory", Jaishankar added that Moscow remains the most important arms supplier for New Delhi.
"Because many Western countries have long preferred to supply Pakistan and not India. But that has changed in the past ten or fifteen years with the USA, for example, and our new purchases have diversified with the USA, Russia, France and Israel as the main suppliers," he added.