Indian External
Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Wednesday that the roots of the
Russia-Ukraine crisis go to post-Soviet politics, expansion of NATO (North Atlantic
Treaty Organization) and Russia-Europe dynamics. The minister, speaking at an
interactive session with a Paris-based think tank said the world is in the
midst of “multiple crises”, Times Now reported. 

The Indian
external affairs minister, who is also a former diplomat, was asked why the
Indian establishment did not condemn the amassing of Russian troops on the
Ukraine border. To this, Jaishankar said, “The real question is: are you
mobilised to find a good solution or are you content with posturing?”

“India can talk
with Russia, with other countries, within the UN Security Council and support
initiatives like those of France.”

Jaishankar was
also asked to comment upon the potential parallels between the situation in Ukraine
and that in Taiwan. Jaishankar said different problems have different
histories, different contexts and players and “transposing issues of one
theatre to another can be misleading.”

India has
consistently called for de-escalation in Ukraine and appealed against military
intervention. At the emergency United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting
called Tuesday, India’s permanent representative to the UN TS Tirumurti said, “We
cannot have a military escalation.”

“The escalation of
tension along the border of Ukraine with the Russian Federation is a matter of
deep concern. These developments have the potential to undermine peace and
security in the region,” Tirumurti said.

The UNSC emergency
meeting was called after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two rebel
regions in Ukraine as independent. Ukraine and western powers have called this
a violation of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.

Tensions on Ukraine’s
borders have only increased since. Moscow has dispatched troops to the
separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as “peacekeepers”. Meanwhile, several
nations, including the United States, UK and Japan, have imposed sanctions on
Russia.