India Says Relationship With Putin's Russia Has 'Certainly Served Our Interests Well'

India once again defended its ties with Moscow amid the war in Ukraine that has killed thousands of people.

What Happened: At a joint press conference with his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, in Canberra, India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar responded to a query about whether the South Asian nation was rethinking its connections with Moscow by pushing back against criticism for his country’s "longstanding" ties with Moscow.

See Also: Putin Threatens More 'Severe' Response If Ukrainian 'Terrorist Attacks' Continue As Russia Aggravates Strikes

Jaishankar said on Monday that the relationship with Russia has "certainly served our interests well," reported Nikkei Asia.

While defending New Delhi’s purchase of Russian arms, he said that India had a “substantial inventory of Soviet and Russian-origin weapons,” and the stockpile increased for a number of reasons, including “merits of the weapon systems themselves” and the fact that Western countries did not give weapons to India “for multiple decades.”

India has never taken a clear stance against Russia invading Ukraine, given its longstanding security ties, but has called for diplomacy and dialogue to end the conflict. Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his interaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that today's era is not an era of war, criticizing Putin's decision to invade Ukraine.

Meanwhile, India voted to reject Putin’s demand for a secret ballot in the UN General Assembly on a draft resolution to condemn Moscow’s “illegal” annexation of four regions of Ukraine, with New Delhi favoring a public vote on the text along with over 100 other nations, reported Press Trust of India.

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