NEW DELHI: A diplomatic spat has surfaced between New Delhi and Warsaw after Indian Foreign Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar publicly criticised Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski over his recent visit to Pakistan, Indian media reported.
According to The Hindu, the remarks came during a meeting between Jaishankar and Sikorski, marking the first high-level engagement since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Warsaw in August 2024, which was followed by his trip to Ukraine.
In televised comments, Jaishankar said he wished to raise Sikorski’s “recent travels to the region”, a reference widely interpreted as pointing to the Polish foreign minister’s October visit to Pakistan. During that trip, Pakistan and Poland agreed to deepen political and economic cooperation and work towards what they described as a “comprehensive and mutually beneficial partnership”.
Jaishankar was quoted as telling Sikorski that Poland should show “zero tolerance for terrorism” and should not contribute to what he termed “terrorist infrastructure in our neighbourhood”, remarks seen as a direct criticism of Warsaw’s engagement with Islamabad.
The Indian foreign minister further noted that Sikorski, a former journalist who reported from Afghanistan in the 1980s, was well aware of the region and its “longstanding challenge of cross-border terrorism”.
Jaishankar also took exception to Sikorski’s earlier comments in Paris, where the Polish minister welcomed India’s reduction in Russian oil imports, arguing that such purchases financed Russia’s war effort. “The selective targeting of India is both unfair and unjustified,” Jaishankar said, reiterating India’s stance.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting at Hyderabad House, Sikorski said both sides shared concerns over terrorism but voiced Poland’s unease over India’s participation in Russia’s Zapad 2025 military exercises with Belarus. The drills, held in September 2025, took place near Nato borders and were described by Sikorski as “threatening”.
“We all have regional concerns and neighbours,” Sikorski said, adding that while India and Poland were aligned on terrorism, Warsaw remained concerned about India’s involvement in the Zapad exercises.
