Did European Envoys Cross Diplomacy's Red Line in New Delhi?
Jaishankar's Prophecy Vindicated
The joint editorial published in a leading Indian newspaper by the Ambassadors of Germany, France, and the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom just before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s State Visit to India was a significant diplomatic misstep. The opinion piece, which sharply criticized Russia’s conduct in the Ukraine conflict and implicitly lectured India on its bilateral relations with Moscow, was widely condemned by the Indian foreign policy establishment as "unusual and unacceptable diplomatic practice."
The timing and content of the article were a clear attempt to exert public pressure on New Delhi and undermine a sovereign state visit, a maneuver that fundamentally breaches the established norms of diplomatic conduct and ironically validates External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s earlier, pointed remarks about the Western mindset.
Breach of Protocol: What the Vienna Convention Says
Diplomats, while enjoying privileges and immunities, are bound by strict rules regarding their conduct in the receiving state. The three envoys' joint public commentary, which sought to influence India’s foreign policy towards a third country (Russia), constitutes a clear transgression of these norms.
Relevant Section of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961):
The foundational document governing diplomatic conduct explicitly outlines the duties of a diplomatic mission and its members. One of the most relevant provision of which states:
“Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.”
While an opinion piece in a newspaper might be seen as freedom of expression in one context, when senior, accredited diplomats use a public platform just before a critical bilateral summit to castigate a guest and question the host country’s foreign policy choices, it crosses the line from communication into interference. Diplomatic practice dictates that such concerns should be raised discreetly through official channels - the Ministry of External Affairs - not through public grandstanding intended to mobilize domestic or international opinion against a host's sovereign decision.
The very act of publishing this editorial aimed to steer India away from a historical partner. India's commitment to strategic autonomy means making sovereign choices based purely on its national interests, independent of pressure from any power bloc. This diplomatic manoeuvre was thus seen not just as criticism of Russia, but as an attempt to curtail India's freedom to choose its own partners and chart its own course in a multipolar world, which no sovereign country like India would accept.
The Hypocrisy Test: An Indian Ambassador in Europe
The gravity of the European envoys’ move can be understood by applying the principle of reciprocity in diplomacy:
Would an Indian Ambassador publish a joint editorial in The Times (UK), Le Monde (France), or Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) on the eve of a major European leader’s visit to their capital (e.g., a US Presidential visit), lecturing the host country on its relations with that third power (e.g., on trade or NATO policy)?
The answer is unequivocally no. Such an act would be instantly regarded as a severe diplomatic insult, an unacceptable provocation, and a blatant attempt to interfere in the foreign affairs of the host country. The Indian Ambassador would, in all likelihood, be declared persona non grata and recalled almost immediately. The European envoys, in contrast, engaged in what former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal described as "trade-unionism type diplomacy," using a joint statement to shield themselves from individual reprimand while collectively applying pressure.
Jaishankar's Prophecy Vindicated
This undiplomatic move perfectly illustrated and validated the criticism leveled by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar against the Eurocentric view of global politics.
Jaishankar's famous quote, delivered at the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum in 2022, was a direct response to Europe's insistence that India align with their position on the Ukraine war while historically showing little reciprocal interest in Asia's security challenges. He stated:
“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.”
The joint editorial by the three European envoys, suggesting that India prioritize a European conflict (Ukraine) over its own decades-old, defense-critical partnership with Russia, epitomizes this very mindset. It suggests that European security is a universal concern requiring global compliance, yet the West often remains "singularly silent" on Indian or Asian security issues like border disputes or terrorism. By attempting to sabotage India's sovereign diplomatic engagement, the European envoys proved Jaishankar's critique correct: they are quick to globalize their problems but slow to universalize their concern.