Russia stood by India when much of the world backed Pakistan: EAM

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has said, international peace and security, supply chain resilience, and connectivity are important agendas for Emerging and Middle Powers, EMPs. Speaking at the 62nd Munich Security Conference in New Delhi on Sunday, the External Affairs Minister said, Emerging and Middle Powers are from Global South and Global North, who are united in their goal of being more relevant. He pointed out that the world is changing, its agenda and landscape is changing, and there is a substantial agenda for emerging and middle powers to cooperate. He reaffirmed India’s ties with Russia amid Western criticism, saying Moscow has stood by New Delhi when its security and territorial integrity have come under threat. He recalled support from Russia and the Soviet Union, particularly since the 1950s, when much of the world backed Pakistan’s military regime.

#WATCH | Delhi: 62nd Munich Security Conference | On the future of India and Russia's relationship, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar says, "India and Russia have historically very good relations, particularly since the 1950s. That history is not forgotten... For us, and Soviet Union before that was a country that stood by us in many ways when our security, when our territorial integrity was under threat. At a time when much of the world preferred backing a military regime next to us, Russia was a country with which our relations were very good and we are shaped in many ways by that legacy. Today, the relationship has widened beyond that... It is very much more today an economic relationship as well. So there is a military component, there are nuclear component, there is space issues, but there is a significant amount of trade and investment between the two countries and energy and resources as well... India's experience has been quite positive and consistently positive. Having said that, we are seeing today an unfortunate conflict. Our position on that conflict has been very clear, which is that we would like to see an end to this conflict. This will require dialogue and diplomacy. There has to be negotiations in this regard. We have been advocating it for many years, and in recent months we have got a little bit more involved beyond advocacy. We have conversations with both Russia and Ukraine in this regard. We are trying to be helpful, starting with the Black Sea safety of shipping issue, but going beyond that to cover some immediate concerns which both of them have on grain exports, energy exports, non-attack possibilities. Those are ongoing conversations right now."

— ANI (@ANI) October 4, 2026

Dr Jaishankar said India has decades of high growth ahead and a demography which will sustain that level of growth. He observed that India has historically tended to look at the larger nations of Europe which is not the case anymore and India is in the process of intensifying its relationship with the EU.