New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Monday (December 19) urged Poland to maintain “zero tolerance” towards terrorism and cautioned against fuelling “terrorist infrastructure” in India’s neighbourhood, while his visiting Polish counterpart flagged India’s participation in the “threatening” Russia-led military exercises in Belarus.Speaking at the opening of talks with Polish deputy prime minister and foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski in New Delhi, Jaishankar said India had consistently articulated its position on the Ukraine conflict at international forums, but found it unfair that it was being singled out.“I have repeatedly underlined that the selective targeting of India is both unfair and unjustified. I do so again today,” Jaishankar said, before turning to regional security concerns.Referring to Sikorski’s familiarity with South Asia, he added that Poland should display “zero tolerance for terrorism” and should “not help fuel the terrorist infrastructure in our neighbourhood”. The Polish minister had been a war correspondent in Afghanistan in the 1980s.The remarks reflected Indian unease following Sikorski’s visit to Pakistan in October, during which Kashmir and Ukraine were referenced together in a joint statement issued after his talks in Islamabad.That document noted that Poland briefed Pakistan on the war in Ukraine while Pakistan briefed Poland on the “Jammu and Kashmir dispute”, with both sides stressing the need for peaceful solutions under international law and the UN Charter.New Delhi has long objected to any third-country position, maintaining that Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral issue.But, speaking with reporters later, Sikorski said that while India and Poland were “one mind” on terrorism, Warsaw also had “concerns” with New Delhi’s position on Ukraine. “India took part in the Zapad exercises in Russia that we find threatening. So, I was very glad that we were able to discuss frankly what’s on our minds.”India had sent 65 personnel to participate in the five-day Zapad-2025 military drills led by Russia and Belarus. The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had said India’s participation could pose an obstacle to deepening ties, while India’s ministry of external affairs pointed out that several NATO members, including the United States, had taken part in the exercises as observers.Sikorski also stated that both countries “condemn the crossing of international borders either by tanks or by terrorists”. “Both India and Poland are victims of transnational terrorists, and therefore we condemn it in the strongest terms,” he said.The visiting Polish minister made a similar point in his response after Jaishankar’s opening remarks, noting that Poland itself had recently been targeted.“I completely agree with you on the need to counter trans-border terrorism,” Sikorski said, adding that Poland had been “a victim of both arsons and attempted state terrorism”, including a recent incident in which a railway line was blown up under a moving train. “Fortunately, through the incompetence of the terrorists, there were no casualties,” he said.Poland has accused Russia of being behind two acts of sabotage against the Polish rail network last year.Jaishankar’s reference to “selective targeting” also alluded to the 25% US tariff on Indian goods in response to New Delhi’s energy ties with Russia, which doubled total tariffs to 50%. New Delhi has argued that tariffs imposed by the United States over India’s purchase of Russian oil amount to unfair discrimination, particularly when several European states continue to import Russian energy in different forms.Sikorski also echoed Jaishankar’s criticism of economic pressure directed at specific countries, saying: “I also completely agree with you on the unfairness of selective targeting by tariffs.” He warned that such measures risked escalating into wider instability, saying Europe feared this could lead to “global trade turbulence”.At the same time, Sikorski defended sanctions imposed on Russia, arguing that they were justified by Moscow’s actions.He told reporters that Russia had violated the Budapest Memorandum, breached border treaties and broken the UN Charter by invading Ukraine.“In those circumstances, imposing sanctions, in other words, taking countermeasures by the international community against the aggressor, is justified. In many other circumstances, it is not justified. But trust me, in Poland and in Europe, we know something about targeted sanctions now,” he said.Earlier this month, however, Sikorski had used a stronger description of India’s Russian oil imports. Speaking at a Weimar Triangle Plus press conference, he said he was satisfied with what he described as a reduction in India’s imports of Russian oil, arguing that such purchases were “financing the war machine of Putin”.