'Smart enough to have multiple options': EAM S Jaishankar on India's ties with Russia

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that India should not be criticized for having a variety of options in light of the fact that the nation is transitioning from “non-alignment to all alignment” and was questioned about the nation’s foreign policy priorities.

In the presence of German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he made these comments during an interactive session at a security conference in Munich.

The moderator brought up India’s ongoing import of crude oil from Russia in the face of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine when posing the question.

“Why should it be a problem? I am smart enough to have multiple options. You should be admiring and not criticising. Is it a problem for others? I do not think so,” he said.

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Jaishankar discussed the many pulls and pressures that different countries experience in that setting. He also mentioned that relationships are difficult to be one-dimensional because different countries have diverse histories and issues.

“I do not want you, even inadvertently, to give the impression that we are purely and unsentimentally transactional. We are not. We get along with people, we believe in things, we share things…but there are times when you are located in different places, different levels of development, different experiences, all of that gets into it,” he explained.

“So life is complicated, life is differentiated,” he said.

“Good partners provide choices, smart partners take some of those choices” Jaishankar said.

The External Affairs Minister stated that Israel has an international duty to uphold humanitarian law while simultaneously characterizing the Hamas attacks on Israeli cities on October 7 as “terrorism” and citing Tel Aviv’s reaction. In addition, he emphasized India’s long-standing support for a “two-state solution” to the Palestine conflict.

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Israel has been carrying out its military campaign in Gaza as part of its reprisal for Hamas’ historic October 7 onslaught on Israeli cities. India has been advocating for a de-escalation of the situation and has strongly denounced the terror act carried out by Hamas.

To a question, the External Affairs Minister said the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India- China-South Africa) grouping started in an era when Western dominance was very strong.

According to Jaishankar, some thirty nations expressed interest in joining BRICS last year because they saw its benefits. He answered, ‘There must be something excellent we have done.