Bharat’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar repeated New Delhi’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war. Jaishankar 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 the question if Bharat will act as a mediator to end the Russia-Ukraine war which is set to enter its third year later this month.
“Bharat is publically committed to bringing the conflict to an end”, said S Jaishankar.
“Everyone is suffering from this conflict. I don’t know how will it end, we’re not deep enough into the process to know,” said EAM.
“Isn’t that why you could be a mediator?,” the interviewer asked Jaishankar. On this Jaishankar replied, “Theoretically, yes,” He further added 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 don’t believe that we should initiate anything in this direction on our own,” added Jaishankar.
When asked if the Indo-Russian relationship is a “burden” on the Bharat-Europe relationship due to the oil trade between the two countries, Jaishankar said that Russia has never hurt Bharatiya’s interests.
“Everyone conducts a relationship based on their past experiences. If I look at the history of Bharat post-independence, Russia has never hurt our interests,” Jaishankar said.
“The relations of powers like Europe, the US, China with Russia, they have all seen ups and downs. We have had a stable and always very good relationship with Russia. And our relationship with Russia today is based on this experience,” said the Bharatiya foreign minister.
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