Indian opposition politician and member of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi has said that his party would have responded in a "similar way" to the Ukraine conflict as did the current administration under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This probably marks the first time that Gandhi has backed the Centre's stance. The politician, who embarked on a six-day tour around the United States earlier this week, is known as a bitter critic of the BJP's domestic policies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally.
"Because we have sort of a relationship with the Russians that, you know, can't be denied, it is there. So, I think our policy [on Ukraine] would broadly be similar," Gandhi said, replying to a question about how his party would assess New Delhi’s bilateral ties with Moscow in the wake of the special military operation. "[...] there is an old and historic relationship with the Russians. We buy weapons from them, so there is that reason. [A] Congress government wouldn't be dramatically different from what the BJP is doing."
Gandhi's support for the Modi government on the Russia-Ukraine conflict seems like a move aimed at quelling the Western press that has criticized the Indian government many times for supporting Russia.
New Delhi has refused to heed Western-led calls to criticize Russia at the United Nations (UN), and instead it has ramped up its commercial ties with Moscow to an all-time high.
In the past year, New Delhi and Beijing have emerged as the largest importers of Russian crude, in a blow to Western efforts against Moscow.
India says that importing crude from Russia is in the interest of its "energy security" and helps keep "inflation" in check amid global volatility in energy prices.