On a day the Russia-Ukraine war intensified, India asserted its continued purchase of defence equipment from Russia with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar underlining the long-standing relationship between the two countries and taking on the Western nations for refusing to sell weapons to India for decades.
Jaishankar simultaneously attacked the West for preferring “military dictatorship”’ in the neighbourhood, a direct reference to the US’s defence partnership with Pakistan.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Russia. A relationship that has certainly served our interests well. We have substantial inventory of Soviet and Russian-origin weapons, and that inventory actually grew for a variety of reasons – the merits of the weapon systems themselves but also because for multiple decades Western countries did not supply weapons to India,” Jaishankar said at a joint press conference with the Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Canberra on Monday.
The Indian Foreign Minister, who is in Australia on an official visit, was answering questions on whether India was re-thinking its ties with Russia given its ongoing war with Ukraine and whether it would reduce its reliance on Russian weapons.
Alluding to Pakistan, Jaishankar also said the Western countries “preferred a military dictatorship next to us” as the preferred partner.
The Minister, however, added that India has been very clearly against the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine-Russia conflict
In fact, in response to media queries on the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, with Russia carrying our missile strikes in a number of Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that it was deeply concerned at the developments, including targeting of infrastructure and deaths of civilians.
“We reiterate that escalation of hostilities is in no one’s interest. We urge immediate cessation of hostilities and the urgent return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue. India stands ready to support all such efforts aimed at de-escalation,” MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated.
The Embassy of India in Kyiv issued an advisory for all Indian nationals in Ukraine on Monday asking them to avoid all non-essential travel to & within Ukraine. “They’re requested to keep the Embassy informed about status of their presence in Ukraine,” it said.