'Our relationship is based on ...': Jaishankar on India buying Russian oil

‘Our relationship is based on …’: Jaishankar on India buying Russian oil

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister, S Jaishankar, on Tuesday reiterated India’s commitment to continue buying oil from Russia despite sanctions imposed on Moscow due to the military conflict with Ukraine.

In an interview with German economic daily Handelsblatt during his visit to Germany for the Munich Security Conference, Jaishankar emphasized the longstanding “stable and friendly ties” between India and Russia, stating that Russia has never harmed India’s interests.

When asked about India’s decision to purchase Russian oil, Jaishankar explained that every country conducts its relationships based on past experiences. He highlighted that India has always had a stable and friendly relationship with Russia, unlike other countries whose relationships have been shaped by conflicts.

“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. For others, things were different, and conflicts may have shaped the relationship. We, on the other hand, had a politically and militarily much more difficult relationship with China, for example,” he added.

Speaking about the border conflict with China in 2020, Jaishankar said that just as he does not expect Europe to share India’s perspective on China.

“Just as I do not expect Europe to have a view of China that is identical to mine, Europe should understand that I cannot have a view of Russia that is identical to the European one. Let us accept that there are natural differences in relationships,” Jaishankar said.

The external affairs minister noted that there are natural differences in relationships and emphasized that India and Europe have discussed their stances without emphasizing their differences.

“Both sides have communicated their positions clearly and have not emphasized their differences. But yes, there are differences. You mentioned the energy issue. When the fighting started in Ukraine, Europe shifted a large part of its energy procurement to the Middle East – until then the main supplier for India and other countries,” Jaishankar said responding to a question on whether differences in ties with regards to Russia have impacted India-Europe relations.

“What should we have done? In many cases, our Middle East suppliers gave priority to Europe because Europe paid higher prices. Either we would have had no energy because everything would have gone to them. Or we would have ended up paying a lot more because you were paying more. And in a certain way, we stabilized the energy market that way,” he added.

(With agency inputs)

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