'I Prefer To Do, Articulate It My Way': EAM S Jaishankar On India's Stance Over Ukraine War And Russian Energy Imports

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday (11 April) asserted that India had made its position clear on Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying that New Delhi is against the conflict and supports urgent cessation of violence.

“Why not condemn Russia’s invasion? Wouldn’t this best reflect India’s foreign policy goals and international standing, and what is the leverage that the Indian government has to persuade Vladimir Putin that the carnage that we are seeing everyday simply must stop, and that its not helping Ukrainian people and that it’s not helping the Russian people.” asked Al Jazeera US correspondent Rosiland Jordan.

"First of all, thank you for the advice and suggestions in your question. I prefer to do it my way and articulate it my way. As Secretary Blinken has pointed out, we have made a number of statements which outline our position, in the UN, in our Parliament and various other forums. And briefly what those positions state is that we are against the conflict, we are for dialogue and diplomacy. We are for urgent cessation of violence and we are prepared to contribute in whatever way to these objectives," EAM Jaishankar said in reply to the question by Al Jazeera journalist during a joint press conference with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

In response to another question by Jordan on India's energy imports from Russia, Jaishankar said, "If you are looking at energy purchases from Russia, I would suggest that your attention should be focused on Europe. We do buy some energy which is necessary for our energy security, but I suspect looking at the figures, probably, our total purchases for the month would be less that what Europe does in an afternoon,".