India will have to take some hard decisions about ties with Russia: Expert

The Ukrainian crisis has forced India and many other countries to revisit their alignment and their dependence on Russian military hardware, noted South Asia expert Jeff M Smith has said.

Interacting with Asianet Newsable on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue 2022, Smith, who is a Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, noted that "Russia is going to emerge from this crisis (Ukraine war) weaker and more isolated and dependent on China. And I think it is going to force India to make some hard decisions about the relationship with Russia." 

"Whether Russia can serve as the same reliable counter-balance against the Chinese influence the way it used to, I don't think so, that is the case. But India will have to make decisions on its own," he added.

Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while taking part in a session during the Raisina Dialogue, said that there are no real winners in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

While stating that nobody really wanted to see the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Jaishankar took the opportunity to remind his European counterparts how less than a year ago, the entire civil society was thrown under the bus by the world in Afghanistan.

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