India 'Smart Enough' To Have Multiple Options: Jaishankar Responds To Russia Ties Question, Blinken Smiles

External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, defended India's foreign policy choices at a security conference in Munich, Germany.

His remarks came at an interactive session on Saturday (17 February) at the Munich security conference in the presence of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

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In response to a question on India's foreign policy priorities in the backdrop of observations that it is traversing from "non-alignment to all alignment", Jaishankar asserted that India should not be criticised for having multiple options.

The moderator also mentioned India's oil purchases from Russia despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"Why should it be a problem? I am smart enough to have multiple options. You should be admiring and not criticising. Is it a problem for others? I do not think so," he said.

Antony Blinken was seen smiling as J Jaishankar made the statement.

He emphasised that India maintains strong relations with Western countries despite its independent choices.

"I do not want you, even inadvertently, to give the impression that we are purely and unsentimentally transactional. We are not. We get along with people, we believe in things, we share things...but there are times when you are located in different places, different levels of development, different experiences, all of that gets into it," he explained.

"So life is complicated, life is differentiated," he said.

"Good partners provide choices, smart partners take some of those choices" Jaishankar said.

He said that India is non-west but not against the western countries.

"I think it is important today to make a distinction between being non-West and anti-West. I would certainly characterise India as a country which is non-West but which has extremely strong relations with the Western countries that is getting better by the day," he added.

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