India ready to intervene in Russia Ukraine dispute
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stated that while India is willing to mediate disputes between Russia and Ukraine if asked to do so. While india does not think it should try to resolve the conflict between the two nations stepping into the situation on its own.
Jaishankar stated in an interview that After the conflict in Ukraine, the West Asian energy suppliers to New Delhi prioritized supplying petroleum to Europe, which was willing to pay a premium, leaving the Indian side with no choice but to purchase Russian crude.
Asked if India could be a mediator in the conflict, he replied: “Theoretically, yes. We have already helped with very specific issues. When Turkey negotiated the [grain] 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.
“Wherever we can help, we are happy to do so. We are open when we are approached. However, we do not believe that we should initiate anything in this direction on our own.”
India is “deeply convinced, and…publicly committed to bringing the conflict to an end”. He said, “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.”
India has repeatedly demanded that Russia stop its actions since the war started almost two years ago and that both nations resume their paths of communication and diplomacy. However, India has not openly criticized Russia’s actions during this time. India also increased its purchases of cheap Russian oil in response to strong pressure from the West.
“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…In many cases, our Middle East suppliers gave priority to Europe because Europe paid higher prices,” Jaishankar said.
“If no one had bought the crude oil from Russia and everyone had bought the crude oil from the other countries, prices on the energy market would have shot up even further,” he said, adding that India’s actions stabilised the energy market.
Asked if India’s relationship with Russia is a burden on the country’s ties with Europe, Jaishankar said, “If I look at the history of India post-independence, Russia has never hurt our interests. 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.”
India also had a “politically and militarily much more difficult relationship with China”, he said. He also said that just as he didn’t “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”.
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