‘There is a Russia question’: European envoys call for Delhi to balance deepening ties with Brussels and old ties with Moscow

India has to “square” its strategical concern with Russia with its tendency to deepen ties with the European Union (EU), European envoys said in New Delhi connected Wednesday (September 24, 2025), questioning India’s information successful the recent “Zapad” military exercises and Russian lipid purchases and calling for “sensitivity” to European concerns implicit the struggle successful Ukraine.

In a keynote address, the European Union’s Ambassador to India Herve Delphin hailed improvements successful India-EU ties, including trade, exertion transfers and the strategical partnership, but called the “Russia question” an contented connected which the 2 sides were not aligned. Other EU-member diplomats from Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, Switzerland, Italy and the Czech Republic besides raised concerns that the increasing EU-India narration could beryllium affected by India’s engagement with Russia.

“We person to beryllium clear-eyed astir those issues connected which we are not aligned,” Mr. Delphin said, astatine the motorboat of an variation of a work “India’s World”, co-hosted by German think-tank Heinrich Boll Foundation, focused connected the India-EU relationship, attended by a fig of Delhi-based deliberation tanks, academics and scholars. “Let’s beryllium clear: determination is simply a Russia question, specifically linked to its warfare of aggression against Ukraine and its hostile cognition towards arsenic seen successful past weeks and days and the usurpation of European airspace by Russian drones,” helium added, citing discussions successful European capitals implicit India’s acquisition of Russian oil, and the information of an Indian subject contingent successful the Russia-Belarus Zapad-2025 workout from September 12 to 16.

“India has pronounced itself for peace. Russia is simply a strategical spouse for India. And India wants to deepen its ties with the EU. This volition necessitate further information successful Delhi connected however to quadrate those terms,” Mr. Delphin said.

The timing of the Zapad workout was awkward for EU leaders successful Brussels, arsenic commercialized and cultivation negotiators and a delegation from EU’s Political and Security Committee (PSC) were successful Delhi astatine the time. Releasing the caller “EU-India Strategy” days later, EU Foreign Policy main Kaja Kallas said she had taken up the contented with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, adding that she said that if India wanted “closer ties with us, past wherefore enactment successful exercises that are existential threats to america (the EU)?”

MEA rejected criticism

Rejecting the criticism, the Ministry of External Affairs had pointed retired that portion India joined the 2 plus-nation, 100,000 troops-strong exercise, NATO countries, including the U.S., Turkiye, and Hungary, which is an EU member, had participated arsenic observers successful Zapad-2025. It had besides pointed retired that galore European countries continued to bargain Russian energy.

“I deliberation erstwhile [India and EU] privation to turn closer, [India would] person to recognize that this is thing that bothers [the EU] and concerns america large time,” said German Ambassador Philipp Ackerman, arsenic portion of a sheet treatment that followed, entitled “Cultivating Europe: Navigating India–EU Strategic Ties”, wherever helium accused Russia of “unheard of provocations” successful sending combatant pitchy sorties done Estonian airspace and drones into Poland, and perchance Denmark.

In his summation, Mr. Delphin, the EU Ambassador, besides said that “strategic convergence” betwixt Delhi and Brussels has “never been greater”, and hoped that the bilateral Free Trade Agreement would beryllium done by the extremity of 2025, and the EU-India Strategic Roadmap would beryllium launched astatine the EU-India acme successful aboriginal 2026 successful Delhi.

“The 13th circular (of FTA talks) earlier successful September was a spot of a missed accidental to marque immoderate breakthrough. The EU was and is inactive acceptable to reason connected a meaningful package. We look guardant to India engaging successful earnest and moving, similar the EU has shown readiness to do, towards a mutually beneficial deal,” Mr. Delphin added, citing precocious bilateral commercialized ($140 cardinal successful commercialized successful goods successful 2024) and arsenic democracies promoting “human values”, cooperative connected planetary rules-based order, with “largely converging” interests successful the Indo-Pacific.