India won't follow what West or East wants: Saudi analyst hails India's foreign policy

After Germany and Russia, now a researcher and political analyst from Saudi Arabia has praised the independent foreign policy of India.

"One of the things I would love to mention is the thing that I admire the most with regards to the new face of the external affairs policies of India,. It is the fact that they don't follow what the western or eastern countries want and that's something that has been encouraged definitely by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because we believe and practise sovereignty as any other free country does," ANI quoted Salman Al- Ansari as saying in an interview.

On the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and India's stand on the conflict, the analyst said both Riyadh and New Delhi consider themselves as equalizers. "I think Saudi Arabia and India, both these nations consider themselves to be equalizers, rather than taking sides in this (Russia-Ukraine) conflict. There is no doubt that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a disastrous move. There's no doubt that most of the world's nations were against this move and Saudi Arabia, and India has all voiced their concerns in that regard. But at the same time, we do not want to be in a position where we take sides, because at this critical moment, you don't need to have more escalation. All that we are looking for is to deescalate and the Indian government has been a key broker for peace in this conflict," added Salman.

Days ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday hailed India's "highly responsible" and "worthy of a great power" stance on key matters of global agenda.

The remarks come amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict and India's diplomatic tightrope walk on the issue.

Addressing a press conference in India, Lavrov said, "Our relationship with India can be described as a privileged strategic partnership. This reflects the special character of the relationship starting with India's independence up until today." "We appreciate the highly responsible and worthy of a great power stance India is taking on key matters of global agenda," Lavrov said.

Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz quoted External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's viral "European mindset" remark during the Munich Security Conference.

Jaishankar, during the 17th edition of the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum in Slovakia last year, savagely replied to a question on India's stand in the Russia-Ukraine war, and said, "Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems, but the world's problems are not Europe's problems."

This context was used by the German Chancellor as he suggested a change in the so-called "mindset" and said that Jaishankar has "a point".

"This quote from the Indian Foreign Minister is included in this year's Munich Security Report and he has a point it wouldn't be Europe's problem alone if the law of the strong were to assert itself in international relations," Mr Scholz said.

With inputs from agencies