Jaishankar denies India has lost ‘strategic autonomy’

Jaishankar asserts India's strategic autonomy remains intact despite trade agreements, emphasizing a long-standing tradition of independent diplomacy.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday (February 14, 2026) denied that India’s strategic autonomy had been impacted because of claims that it was reducing the amount of Russian oil in its energy import mix due to the recent trade agreement with the United States.

“We are very much wedded to strategic autonomy,” said Mr. Jaishankar at an event on India and Germany navigating global uncertainty with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul at the Munich Security Conference.

 He was responding to a question from the moderator, Financial Times Editor Roula Khalaf,  on whether the recently announced trade framework with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had impacted India’s autonomy, forcing it to reduce purchases of Russian oil, which had skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  

Mr Jaishankar insisted that the government could continue to exert strategic autonomy as it wished.

“We do and we’ve always done,” he said, adding that the notion cut across the political spectrum in India.

The Narendra Modi-led government has come under fire, including from Opposition parties, for acquiescing to Mr. Trump’s demands that New Delhi stop purchasing Russian oil.