When Jaishankar defended India-Russia ties

Brut India

"A relationship that has certainly served our interests well." S Jaishankar defended India's relationship with Russia, while also calling the West out for supporting Pakistan...

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00:00For multiple decades, Western countries did not supply weapons to India, and in fact saw

00:08a military dictatorship next to us as the preferred partner, a relationship that has

00:26certainly served our interests well.

00:56Is India rethinking its relationship with Russia, given what is going on in Ukraine,

01:21and how are you viewing the performance of Russian weapons systems over there, and does

01:28that give you cause to think that India should reduce its reliance on those weapons systems?

01:40Senator Wong, is India's relationship with Russia holding back the Quad in any way, considering

01:48the Quad is talking about the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific? Is there some inconsistency

01:55in relation to Russia?

01:57Look, I think the Quad is functioning extremely well. I think that the level of strategic trust

02:08and strategic consistency amongst Quad partners is deep and firm, and as I said, I note Prime

02:26Minister Modi's public comments and we've worked on them.

02:29The Quad is a mechanism which is primarily focused on the Indo-Pacific, and I think that's

02:38an area where the convergence of interests between the Quad partners is particularly strong.

02:43With regard to India and Russia, we have really a long-standing relationship with Russia,

02:53a relationship that has certainly served our interests well. And when you asked about the

03:03military equipment issue, we have, as you know, a substantial inventory of Soviet and Russian

03:12origin weapons, and that inventory actually grew for a variety of reasons. You know,

03:18the merits of the weapon systems themselves, but also because for multiple decades Western

03:27countries did not supply weapons to India, and in fact saw a military dictatorship next to us

03:35as the preferred partner. So, I think we all in international politics deal with what we have.

03:42We make judgments which are reflective of both our future interests as well as our current

03:54situation. And my sense is, in terms of this current conflict, like every military conflict,

04:02there are learnings from it, and I'm sure my very professional colleagues in the military

04:07would be studying it very carefully. How does India's defence dependence

04:11on Russia affecting Australia's relationship with New Delhi, and have you raised it with

04:16your counterpart today? I think that question has just been covered, to be honest with you.

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