‘I don’t think Europeans had good sense of how Russians felt about relationship’: S Jaishankar on New Delhi-Moscow ties

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, speaking at the GMF Brussels Forum 2025, stressed Russia-India ties and said that Europe should have put itself in Russia’s shoes if it truly knows what it wants.

As reported by ANI, “I know Russia is a big issue right now. My honest answer to you is I don’t think Europeans had a good sense of how the Russians felt about the relationship or about the direction of events when people say we didn’t see that coming, you normally don’t see that. I’m not justifying anything,” he said.

Jaishankar said that to be a good practitioner in international relations, one has to understand the behaviour and practices of other countries.

“I’m just saying that in international relations if you have to be a good practitioner, if you have to do well even for your own country or for your own group of countries. It’s smart to try to understand the thinking processes, the interests, the anxieties, the behavioural traits of other parties and I certainly didn’t see that I would say in respect of Russia also,” he said.

Jaishankar pointed out that Europe’s narrative of evolution after the formation of the Russian state is starkly different from the Russian version.

“So in fact often the narrative you hear from Russia is so starkly different about let us say the evolution of Europe after 1992. Europe has one version or much of Europe has one version, Russia has a very different version,” he said.

Earlier in 2022, Jaishankar had said this when India was pressed to take a rougher stance against Russia in their conflict with Ukraine, “Somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems. That if it is you, it’s yours, if it is me, it is ours. I see reflections of that.” 

When asked by a journalist if Europe has evolved from it, Jaishankar jested, saying that the quote was ‘thrown at him’ frequently. “You have no idea how many times that quotation has been thrown back at me!” he said.

“I do want to say this we’re now in 2025 and I think there’s been a big change where Europe is concerned in these three years which is a large part of being on your own or being part of a multipolar architecture one is to realize your own capabilities and limitations and compulsions and relationships. So you are more self-reliant in a way, but the other part of it is also to try to put yourself in the shoes of the other party. It’s not easy to do,” he said.