‘Good relations with Russia in our national interest’, says Jaishankar

Noting that India makes a choice about procuring defence equipment in its national interest, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said where “we get our military equipment is not a new issue or changed due to geo-political changes” and that New Delhi has not faced problems in terms of spare parts supply in the past from Russia.
Addressing a press conference with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Jaishankar said India has a tradition of multi-sourcing defence equipment. “Don’t think we’ve faced any problems in terms of servicing or spare parts supply we’ve got in past from Russia. Where we get our military equip is not a new issue or changed due to geopolitical changes. We exercise a choice that is in our national interest,” he said.
“We have a tradition of multi-sourcing and for us how to get the optimal deal from a competitive situation is really what this is all about,” he said responding to q query on import of defence equipment.
Jaishankar said the Ukraine conflict is “not in anybody’s interest”.
“The best way forward is to return to dialogue and diplomacy,” he said, reaffirming India’s stance.
The two leaders also exchanged views on Ukraine conflict and the Indo-Pacific region.
“We engage with each other in almost every domain and the quality of our cooperation in our conversations has steadily improved. We discussed our political coordination working together in plurilateral and multilateral formats and exchanging assessment and collaborating on the important regional issues and global challenges. I would specifically mention the Ukraine conflict and the Indo-Pacific situation in that regard,” Jaishankar said.
Russia had launched a special military operation in Ukraine in February this year.
In his remarks, Antony Blinken referred to remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit.