Washington: India’s relations with Russia may not be “spectacular” but the two countries have a “steady” relationship, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday while predicting that Moscow will focus more on Asia as its ties with the West have “broken up”.
Jaishankar said this in response to a question during his appearance at the prestigious Hudson Institute think-tank when asked about India’s relations with Russia amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Asserting that every major international relationship in the last 70 years has seen great volatility, the minister pointed out that the relationship between New Delhi and Moscow has largely been stable.
“India, Russia are very exceptional. It’s been very steady. It may not be spectacular. So, it may have stabilised at a certain level,” he said.
Commenting on Russia’s ties with the world due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Jaishankar said, “I think as a consequence of what is going on in Ukraine, it seems to be clear that in many ways Russia’s relationship with the West has broken up and in that case, it’s logical that Russia focuses more on the Asian side of Russia, though historically Russia has always seen itself as a European power.” “I would predict Russia, which would consciously focus on the non-western world, away from Europe, away from the United States, and look much more at Asia, possibly at other regions as well, but Asia is economically the most active,” he added.
He added that a “reinvention” of Russia is happening as a consequence of what is happening in Ukraine.
Jaishankar is currently on a five-day official trip to Washington DC.
He met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken State Department on Thursday, which was the highest-level interaction between the two countries after the recent G-20 Summit in New Delhi when President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met.
Jaishankar arrived here from New York on Wednesday after addressing the 78th General Assembly session of the United Nations on Tuesday.
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