A senior US official visiting New Delhi said India must stand against “autocracies like Russia and China,” hours after US President Joseph Biden called India’s support for sanctions against Russia “somewhat shaky” in comparison to other Quad partners Japan and Australia.
After meeting with Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla on Monday, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland concluded her two-day visit to India with a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
US official: A good discussion on bilateral cooperation
Mr. Jaishankar tweeted about his meeting with US official Ms. Nuland on Tuesday morning, after which the US delegation left for Sri Lanka. “Good discussion on expanding our bilateral cooperation, on South Asia, Indo-Pacific, and the Ukraine situation,” he said.
Mr. Biden’s remarks elicited no response from the Ministry of External Affairs, indicating that, despite a series of visits to India by leaders from sanctioned countries in the last week, New Delhi’s position on the sanctions has not changed, even as the government considers buying more Russian oil at discounted prices.
‘Thinking evolution’
US official Ms. Nuland told NDTV that she had spoken to Indian officials about the need for democracies to “stand together and evolve their position vis-a-vis Russia because of Mr. Putin’s choices,” and that she believed there had been an “evolution” in Indian thinking.
“We are aware of India and Russia’s historic relationship and defense relationship at a time when the United States was not prepared to have such a relationship.” However, the times have changed. In terms of the US and European willingness to be strong defense and security partners with India, things have changed. In the Indo-Pacific, we are working together more. However, times have changed in terms of the level of brutality and violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing,” Ms. Nuland said, implying that the US could assist India in obtaining military hardware and spare parts from former Soviet states that are now US allies.
“With our allies, we’ve been supporting the sourcing of security needs for Ukraine, including Soviet-era equipment,” she said in the interview. “Those are the kinds of things we can do with India as it continues to evolve its position.”