Amid the escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia, on Wednesday, Russia said that the curbs and sanctions that have been imposed by the West will only lead to fear and mistrust affecting the international banking system among other things. It further states that Moscow will be going ahead with the implementation of its big plans in defence with India as it is the only country that has been honest so far in sharing its technology with it.
India has refrained from condemning the actions of Russia. While participating in the latest panel discussion in Paris on Tuesday, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that a lot of what was happening between Russia and Ukraine could be attributed to the expansion of NATO along with the post-Soviet politics that has affected the dynamics between Russia and the West. At the European Union Indo-Pacific ministerial that was hosted by France, Jaishankar stressed the challenges that were posed by China to the global commons meanwhile other countries like Japan were slamming the actions taken by Russia for what was being deemed as the country’s military adventurism against Ukraine.
The charge d’affaires of Russia, Roman Babushkin, while maintaining that Russia’s actions in recognising the breakaway areas in Ukraine were in line with the international law, said that India was playing a vital role as a global power in the United Nations Security Council. He also said that its activities fully reflected the merit of the strategic partnership between India and Russia. He further added that Russia was ready for any development while still favouring dialogue to resolve the crisis between Ukraine and Russia.
Babushkin stated that India and Russia were taking each other’s security concerns very seriously and they had big plans in defence and hoped to implement all of those. He also complimented India for its independent policies. He was responding to queries related to any possibility of the sanctions that were imposed by the West affecting its defence partnership with India such as the supply of S-400 air missile defence system.
At the United Nations Security Council, India had earlier called for addressing the security concerns of all the nations. This statement along with India’s refrain from a procedural vote favouring Russia amid the escalating tensions. The two countries had renewed their 10-year agreement for the military-technical cooperation but India had also been working closely with Russia to deal with the dangerous security situation in Afghanistan.
Babushkin while describing the fresh sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, said that they welcomed India’s independent and balanced stand which was declared at the UN Security Council meeting and it reflected India’s status of a responsible global power. He mentioned that the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two nations was based on the unparalleled level of trust and mutual understanding along with the respect of mutual concerns and interests.
