Diplomatic spat between India and Poland as Foreign Ministers spar over Pakistan and Russia

External Affairs Minister of India S. Jaishankar with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Radoslaw Sikorski during a meeting in New Delhi on January 19, 2026. Photo: X/@DrSJaishankar via PTI.

Jaishankar says Poland shouldn’t help ‘fuel’ terrorism in the region, refers to EU oil sanctions as ‘selective targeting’; Radoslaw Sikorski describes India’s participation in Zapad exercises in Russia as ‘threatening’

India and Poland sparred over their respective regional rivals as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Polish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Radoslaw Sikorski aired their differences over Pakistan and Russia on Monday January 19, 2026 as the two Ministers met for talks in New Delhi.

Taking aim at Poland’s renewed ties with Pakistan, S Jaishankar told visiting Sikorski that India expects its partners not to help “fuel” terrorism in the neighbourhood. Dr. Jaishankar also delivered a severe message to the visiting dignitary about the European Union’s sanctions against India’s trade and oil imports from Russia, calling it “selective targeting”.

In televised opening remarks at the Hyderabad House, S. Jaishankar said he wanted to “discuss some of . Sikorski’s recent travels to the region”, a direct reference to the Polish FM’s visit to Pakistan in October 2025, where he had met Pakistan’s top leadership. The visit to Pakistan by Sikorski appears to have upset the government as it came a few months after the India-Pakistan conflict in May.

“Poland should display zero tolerance for terrorism and not help fuel the terrorist infrastructure in our neighbourhood,” Dr. Jaishankar said. Sikorski is a former journalist who covered the war in Afghanistan in 1986-1989 and spent considerable time in Pakistan. Jaishankar said he was “no stranger to the region”, and would be “certainly familiar with the longstanding challenge of cross-border terrorism”.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting at Hyderabad House, Sikorski said that the conversation about India and Poland’s respective regions had been “frank”, and said that while the two sides agreed on concerns over terrorism, India’s participation in “Zapad-2025” military exercises in Russia and Belarus was seen as “threatening”.

Regional concerns
“We all have regional concerns and we all have neighbours, and with neighbours you have opportunities and challenges,” Sikorski said, adding that on terrorism India and Poland are of “one mind”. “We also have concerns. India took part in the Zapad exercises in Russia that we find threatening,” he stated.

The exchange of differences between Delhi and Warsaw was seen as unusual given that the two countries have been improving relations in recent years, and India and the European Union are close to a major trade agreement next week. The visit by the Polish Minister is the first since Prime Minister Modi visited Warsaw in August 2024, from where he travelled to Ukraine as well.

During talks, Jaishankar turned to the issue of India’s imports of Russian oil that he said Sikorski had been speaking about “publicly” during his visit. In Jaipur on Monday January 19, 2026, the Polish Foreign Minister had said that he was “pleased” that India had cut its purchase of Russian oil, and added, during an interview with The Hindu, that he hoped India shares the view that “principles still matter”, while criticising Russian President Vladimir Putin for his actions in Ukraine.

Sources said that New Delhi had also taken exception to Sikorski’s comments in Paris earlier this month on the sidelines of the “Weimar Triangle” talks when the Polish Foreign Minister had said that he was “satisfied” by India’s reduction of Russian oil imports “because this is financing the war machine of Putin”.

“I have repeatedly underlined that the selective targeting of India is both unfair and unjustified. I do so again today,” Dr S Jaishankar told Sikorski, referring to the comments and possibly to the EU’s decision to sanction Nayara energy, a partially Russian-owned refinery in India in July 2025, as well as other Indian companies for their imports.

Trade push
India and Poland have increased trade 200% in the past decade to $7 billion and both sides have plans to increase direct flights, trade and technology cooperation. The Polish Deputy PM’s visit is one of a number of other visits this month by high-level European leaders, including the German Chancellor and France’s National Security Adviser, just ahead of the visit by the EU’s top leadership for the Republic Day Parade and the EU-India Summit next week.

MEA officials did not respond to queries about whether the issue of “selective targeting” of India would also be raised with the European Commission and Council Presidents Ursula Von der Leyen and Antonia Costa during talks next week.

(Source-PTI)