Calling the ongoing situation in Ukraine a result of a complex chain of circumstances over the last 30 years, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said that the crisis has its roots in post-Soviet politics, expansion of NATO and the dynamics between Russia and Europe.

This statement from the EAM comes amid escalating tension between Moscow and the West after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised two breakaway Ukrainian regions as independent states.

In an interactive session at a think-tank in Paris, Jaishankar said that the world today is in the midst of “multiple crises” that have generated new challenges to the international order.

‘Are you mobilised to find a good solution or are you content with posturing?’

When asked why India has not condemned the concentration of Russian troops on the Ukrainian borders, the EAM 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.”

When asked to compare the Ukraine crisis with the situation in Taiwan, Jaishankar said different problems have different histories, different contexts and players and transposing issues of one theatre to another can be misleading.

Jaishankar also spoke extensively on fast-expanding Indo-French ties and said India looks at France as a “trusted” partner in countering myriad security challenges from the seabed to space and from cyber to oceans.

‘QUAD will help in regional and global challenges’

On QUAD, he said it will help in regional and global challenges.

The thinking behind Quad was that the four of us are comfortable working with each other and have strong bilateral relations, he added.

Remembering the genesis of the Quad, the EAM said it started in 2004 with the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

‘India will not agree to any change in the status quo at LAC’

The Quad countries coordinated in response to the tsunami and that coordination made a big difference and enabled us to back each other up and get relief support in a much more effective way, Jaishankar said.

On India-China border tensions, the EAM said that India will not agree to any change in the status quo and will not accept any attempt to change the Line of Actual Control unilaterally.