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“If Europe had wanted to maximize the damage at the time, it would have had to stop all economic relations with Russia completely. But it didn’t,” he said.Jaishankar said if Europe was so convinced and the principles were so important, why did it allow relations to end “gently”? “Why were there exceptions for pipeline gas, for individual countries and so on? That’s what governments do, they manage politics with an eye on the consequences for their people,” he said.Asked if India would you have liked support from Europe in the border conflict with China in 2020, Jaishankar said “My point is: just as I do not 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. Let us accept that there are natural differences in relationships,” he said.To a question on whether the Indo-Russian engagement is a burden on the India-Europe ties, Jaishankar said everyone conducts a relationship based on their past experiences.”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,” he said.”We have had a stable and always very friendly relationship with Russia. And our relationship with Russia today is based on this experience.For others, things were different, and conflicts may have shaped the relationship,” he said.Asked about India recently agreeing on more arms cooperation with Russia and whether the country is still the most important arms supplier for New Delhi, Jaishankar said, “In terms of inventory, yes, because many Western countries have long preferred to supply Pakistan and not India. But that has changed in the past 10 or 15 years with the US, for example, and our new purchases have diversified with the US, Russia, France and Israel as the main suppliers.”
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Jaishankar on India mediating to end Russia-Ukraine war
