Makes sense to give Russia multiple options, says EAM S Jaishankar

It's important for Asian countries to engage with Russia at a time when the West has shut its doors on Moscow, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.

“Russia is turning more towards Asia and other parts of the world. It makes sense to give Russia multiple options,” Jaishankar said at a panel discussion at the ongoing Raisina Dialogues. 

He said Russia was a power with an enormous tradition of statecraft. “If we railroad Russia into a single option, and say that's the outcome, then you are making it a kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy." 

As the world prepares to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s Ukraine invasion this week, Moscow has become the largest supplier of crude oil to India, up from the ninth spot. In the first nine months of the current financial year (FY24), 34 per cent of India's crude oil imports came from Russia, up from 19.2 per cent in FY23. This comes even as Western powers have persuaded New Delhi to desist purchases from Russia.

"Such powers would never put themselves into a single relationship of an overwhelming nature," Jaishankar said, when asked about Russia's perceived closeness to China, and whether that would work against India's interests going forward.

Jaishankar also spoke about how arriving at and maintaining an equilibrium with China was going to be one of the biggest challenges for India-China ties. "Since the late 1980s we have had an understanding on the border precisely because it suited both of us. There was a departure on their side after 30 years," he said.

On the economic front, Jaishankar said the economies of both nations were predicted to reach $50 trillion by around 2075, quoting JP Morgan data. "Both of us (China and India) are rising, obviously at different paces, with different starting points. The Chinese started off earlier, and much more intensely than we did. But it's in the nature of things that at some stage everybody flattens out," he said.

He said India should not give China a veto over its policy choices, in a possible reference to China's moves to block Indian proposals at the United Nations Security Council. "We should be confident of leveraging the international system to create the best possible outcome," Jaishankar said.