External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar has strongly refuted the aspect that India’s solid strategic partnership with Russia will affect its relations with the United States. He has also rejected the claim that New Delhi-Moscow bonhomie will derail the momentum of India in the ongoing trade negotiations with the Trump administration in the US. EAM Jaishankar thus reiterated the core principles of New Delhi’s foreign policy paradigm, which is, multi-alignment, strategic autonomy and consolidating national security to fulfill the priorities of the people of the country.
Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, EAM Jaishankar hailed the steadfast nature of India-Russia relations over the past seven to eight decades. The latest visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to New Delhi marked a new era in the New Delhi-Moscow ties by rendering greater importance to trade and economic cooperation, asserted EAM Jaishankar.
In conversation with @rahulkanwal at HT Leadership Summit. #HTLS2025
https://t.co/j6H1235oCl— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) December 6, 2025
While speaking about the impact of India-Russia relations on the New Delhi-Washington ties he hailed the strategic autonomy of India. He also strongly countered the argument that ties with Moscow would complicate and derail the momentum of negotiations with the US. “I don’t share that view. It is well understood internationally that India maintains ties with all major powers. It would be unreasonable for any country to assume it can influence or restrict how we manage our relations with others”, asserted EAM Jaishankar.
“I think for any country to expect to have a veto or a say in how we develop our relations with others is not a reasonable proposition. Because remember, the others can expect the same. I think we’ve always made it very clear that we have multiple relationships. We have a freedom of choice”, exclaimed Dr. Jaishankar, thus upholding the eternal fact from India’s diplomatic book which is strategic autonomy and the policy of multi-alignement to secure national interests.
While deliberating about the ongoing trade negotiations with the Trump administration, EAM Jaishankar said that the negotiations are circling around securing the national interests. “I think clearly right now trade is the most important issue there. We have, it’s clearly very central to the thinking in Washington, much more than it was to earlier administrations, which is something which we have recognized and we are prepared to meet. But we are prepared to meet it on reasonable terms. I mean, for those of you who think that diplomacy is about pleasing somebody else I’m sorry, that’s not my view of diplomacy. I mean, to me, it is about defending our national interests”, EAM Jaishankar asserted.
“We believe that there can be a landing point for our respective trade interests. Obviously, that is something which will be negotiated hard because it has an implication for livelihoods in this country. At the end of the day, for us the interests of the workers and the farmers and the small business and the middle class matters. When we look at a trade agreement with a country like the US, you have to be extremely judicious about your position, about what you put on the table”, Dr. Jaishankar further added.
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