India is powerful nation, can take independent decisions: Armenia Ambassador on Ukraine row
New Delhi, Aug 22 (FN Bureau) Commenting on India’s neutral stand on Ukraine imbroglio that has “riled” US allies, Armenia Ambassador to India Youri Babakhanian said India can afford to take independent decisions because it is a powerful nation. “In fact it is a very complicated issue. To answer, it needs time but I would like to answer. I can tell you that India is an independent and powerful enough state and can afford to take independent decisions,” he told UNI in an exclusive interview here late Sunday night on the sidelines of India-Armenia Conference 2022. He replied to a question related to the disappointment of the US allies on India’s neutral stance on the Russo-Ukraine war. The statement is in line with India’s External Affairs Minister Dr Subramaniam Jaishankar’s, who had earlier outlined India’s position in the Russo-Ukraine conflict by emphasising that India was not sitting on the fence, but was rather entitled to its own opinion when it came to foreign policy. “… Forget the history and civilisation bit; everybody knows that. I feel I am entitled to have my own side. I am entitled to weigh my own interests, and make my own choices. My choices will not be cynical and transactional.
They will be a balance of my values and my interests. There is no country in the world which disregards its interests,” he said earlier addressing GLOBESEC 2022 Bratislava Forum (Slovakia). India has refused to openly call out Russia as the instigator of the Ukraine crisis and abstained from successive votes in the UN Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council that condemned Russian aggression in Ukraine. Asked if there was a pressure from EU to toe their line on Ukraine imbroglio, Babakhanian said there is no pressure from it because Armenia is a small actor and not a decision-maker in the big political maps. Like India, Armenia also has adopted a neutral position vis-a-vis Ukraine. It has not openly called out Russia as an aggressor state. It also abstained from voting on a UN security resolution calling for Russia’s immediate withdrawal from Ukraine. Armenia also abstained from an urgent debate on the war in the UN Human Rights Council.
However, the country has a pretty good relations with the US and EU, Babakhanian said. “Our relations with Russia is pretty good. We are allies. We are members of the same organisations. We are members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group. So, we don’t have problems with Russia. Russia is a closest ally of Armenia, but at the same we have pretty good relations with Europe and the United States,” he said. “Armenia is a small country and its policy has always been based on complementary principles. But if we have some good relations with someone, it is not at the expense of our other parties. So we are trying to make policies based on complementary principles,” Babakhanian said.
Asked about Islamabad’s nefarious role in Jammu and Kashmir region, Babakhanian termed Pakistan as a destabilising entity and added that the J&K issue should be solved on fair principles of international law that supports India’s position. “That is why Armenia is on India’s side,” he said. Commenting on Pakistani mercenaries supporting Azerbaijan in the 2020 war against Armenia, Babkhanian said it cannot be taken positively and cannot ignore the trilateral military cooperation between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan against his country. “These are the two faces of the same medal (Pakistan). Of course we cannot take the movement of Pakistan in Azerbaijan. This trilateral military cooperation between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan, which is obviously against Armenia, also cannot be taken lightly. The participation of Pakistani mercenaries in the 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict was criticised by us,” he said. Earlier in an interview to a news channel, Armenia’s Finance Minister Ararat Mirzoyan had said that any involvement of mercenary forces aggravates the situation as it brings a wider regional aspect to a local conflict. “Such actions always leave a long-lasting, negative impact on the regional situation even after it is stabilised,” he added.