“We’re Open”: S Jaishankar On India Mediating To End Russia-Ukraine War

New Delhi: 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has indicated that India was open to considering playing the role of a mediator to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict if approached but noted that New Delhi does not believe it should initiate anything on its own.

In an interview with German economic daily Handelsblatt, he also said that following the Ukraine conflict, India’s energy suppliers in the Middle East gave priority to supplying petroleum products to Europe that paid higher prices and New Delhi did not have any option but to procure Russian crude oil.

Mr Jaishankar asserted that just as India does not expect Europe to have a view of China that is identical to New Delhi’s, Europe should understand that India cannot have a view of Russia that is identical to the European one.

He said India has had a “stable” and “very friendly” relationship with Russia, and that Moscow never hurt New Delhi’s interests.

“We, on the other hand, had a politically and militarily much more difficult relationship with China, for example,” he said.

On India’s continuing military cooperation with Russia notwithstanding the Ukraine conflict, Jaishankar said it is going on “because many Western countries have long preferred to supply Pakistan and not India.” Jaishankar said India is “deeply convinced, and are 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,” he said.

Asked if that isn’t a reason why India could be a mediator, Mr Jaishankar said: “Theoretically, yes. We have already helped with very specific issues.” “When Turkey negotiated the corridor through the Black Sea, for example. And we were very supportive of the inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant,” he said.