Brussels [Belgium]: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while speaking at the GMF Brussels Forum 2025, elaborated on his widely discussed 2022 remark about Europe, stating that the continent’s perspective has indeed evolved over the past three years.
“Somewhere 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. That if it is you, it’s yours, if it is me, it is ours. I see reflections of that,” Jaishankar had said in 2022 when India faced pressure to adopt a tougher stance against Russia during the Ukraine conflict.
When asked by a journalist whether Europe had moved past that mindset, Jaishankar jokingly remarked, “You have no idea how many times that quotation has been thrown back at me!”
“I do want to say this we’re now in 2025 and I think there’s been a big change where Europe is concerned in these three years which is a large part of being on your own or being part of a multipolar architecture one is to realize your own capabilities and limitations and compulsions and relationships. So you are more self-reliant in a way, but the other part of it is also to try to put yourself in the shoes of the other party. It’s not easy to do,” he said.
Jaishankar clarified that he was not justifying any actions but emphasized that Europe should have better understood Russia’s standpoint if it wanted to fully grasp the geopolitical reality.
“I know Russia is a big issue right now. My honest answer to you is I don’t think Europeans had a good sense of how the Russians felt about the relationship or about the direction of events when people say we didn’t see that coming, you normally don’t see that. I’m not justifying anything,” he said.
He stressed that successful diplomacy requires an understanding of the motivations, interests, and anxieties of other nations.
“I’m just saying that in international relations if you have to be a good practitioner, if you have to do well even for your own country or for your own group of countries. It’s smart to try to understand the thinking processes, the interests, the anxieties, the behavioral traits of other parties and I certainly didn’t see that I would say in respect of Russia also,” he said.
Jaishankar pointed out the stark differences between Europe’s and Russia’s narratives regarding the evolution of Europe after 1992.
“So in fact often the narrative you hear from Russia is so starkly different about let us say the evolution of Europe after 1992. Europe has one version or much of Europe has one version, Russia has a very different version,” he said.
Explaining the intent behind his 2022 remark, Jaishankar said it was aimed at urging Europe to consider the impacts of its decisions on Asia, Africa, and Latin America—the so-called third world—especially during global crises.
“So the point, the quotation which was recalled, was more like okay look worry about the rest of us as well. We folks in Asia and Africa and Latin America, we are also taking a hit on at that time 2022 on energy, on food prices, on fertilizers so spare some thought to us and when you make your decisions factor that in that was the intent then,” he said.
Jaishankar concluded by likening the current multipolar global order to a chess game, where anticipating other players’ moves is essential.
“The larger point I would make is in a multipolar world one is of course to in a way you’re more selfish but you also have to be more realistic and some ways smarter in trying. It’s more of a chess game. You’ve got to see many more moves ahead which means you got to be able to have the ability to read the minds of the other players as well,” he said.