'You should admire me..': Jaishankar sassy reply on India buying Russian oil; Check out Antony Blinken's reaction
Total Views |
Munich, Feb 19: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has once again defended India's stand of buying Russian oil in the presence of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken despite the Western sanctions on Moscow due to war in Ukraine.
These remarks by Jaishankar came at the Munich Security Conference in response to a question about whether India’s Western partners approve of its purchase of Russian oil during the Ukraine conflict. Sitting at the panel beside US State Secretary Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
“Is that a problem, why should that be a problem? If I am smart enough to have multiple options, you should be admiring me. Is that a problem for others? I don’t think so." ”
In response to the question of New Delhi can pick and choose alliances with countries like Russia and the US.
“"We’ve tried to explain what are the different pulls and pressures, which countries have. It’s very hard to have a uni-dimensional relationship." ”
The 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) got underway with an in-person event from February 16-18, at its traditional venue, the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, according to an official statement. This year's conference is being held under the chairmanship of the German Ambassador to the US, Christoph Heusgen.
Elaborating on the question of the alliance, Jaishankar said India’s approach is not “unsentimentally transactional”.
“We get along with people. We believe in things, we share things and we agree on something. I think it’s very important today, not to reduce the entire complexity of our world into very sweeping propositions. I think that era today is behind us. So I agree very much with what Tony said, which is good partners, provide choices. Smart partners, take some of those choices,” he added.
When asked to speak on the question of the Israel-Hamas war, Jaishankar said
“Number one, we must be clear that what happened on October 7th was terrorism. No caveats, no justification, no explanation. It was terrorism. Number two, as Israel responds, it is important that Israel should be, should have been very mindful of civilian casualties, that it has an obligation to observe international humanitarian law. Number three, the return of hostages is today imperative. Number four, there is a need for a humanitarian corridor, a sustainable humanitarian corridor to provide relief. And eventually, there has to be a permanent fix, a long-term fix, otherwise, we’re going to see a recurrence," he added.
Jaishankar further said that India has long believed in a two-state solution, a position the country has maintained for several decades.
