‘West’s Preferred Partner Was Military Dictator Next to Us’: Jaishankar on Robust India-Russia Defence Ties

Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar said that India has a substantial inventory of Soviet and Russian weapons while speaking to mediapersons in Canberra on Monday. Jaishankar’s response came when he was asked about defence and strategic ties between India and Russia during a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart Penny Wong.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Russia, and this relationship has served our interests well. We have a substantial inventory of Soviet and Russian-origin weapons,” Jaishankar said.

It must be noted that the West, following the onset of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, has been subtly critical of India-Russia ties.

The S-400 deal where India will receive Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missiles has also attracted the ire of the US. The US, for long, through successive administrations, also thought of imposing the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on India but it did not find enough political momentum even within the US.

However, Jaishankar said the relations between then-Soviet Russia, as well as post-Soviet Russia, and India grew stronger because Western nations were fond of the dictators who were in power in India’s neighborhood.

Without naming Pakistan, he referred to the time period when the US courted Pakistani military generals General Ayub Khan and General Zia-ul-Haq and also to some extent Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

These three army generals in 1958, 1977 and 1999 toppled democratically-elected governments.

“This inventory grew for various reasons including the West not supplying weapons to India for decades and, in fact, seeing the military dictatorship next to us as a preferred partner. In international politics, we make judgments which are reflective of our future interests and current situation,” Jaishankar said.

The US-India ties also turned sour when the US and the West did not provide support for the Bangladesh Liberation struggle and also supported the Pakistan government who were accused of human rights violations across Bangladesh in 1971.

Jaishankar also said that India continues to pray for peace in Ukraine and believes diplomacy and dialogue can resolve the conflict.

“We have been very clearly against the conflict in Ukraine. We believe that this conflict does not serve the interest of anybody- neither the participants nor the international community,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Australian foreign minister Penny Wong was more direct in her condemnation of Russia. Wong, however, welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s discussions with Russian president Vladimir Putin where PM Modi raised his concerns with Putin.

Wong said: “Australia condemns Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, the annexations are illegal. We welcomed PM Modi writing his concerns to Mr Putin in September and saying that this is not a time for war.”

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