WASHINGTON: India’s relations with Russia developed for decades when the US could not be a partner of the South Asian country, State Secretary Tony Blinken said as a high-ranking official of the Biden government on Monday showed an understanding of the New Delhi position of the Ukrainian war.
“India’s relationship with Russia was developed for decades when the United States could not be a partner for India. Time has changed,” said Blinken to reporters at a press conference together with the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and their Indian external affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
“Today, we can and are willing to be a partner of choice with India throughout the world: trade, technology, education and security. And that is the very nature of the conversations we have today. When it comes to oil purchases, sanctions, and others, me It will only note that there are carvings for energy purchases, “he said in response to questions.
However, the top US diplomats warned allies and partners to the increase of buying Russian energy “Of course, we encourage the country not to buy additional energy supplies from Russia. Each different country lies, has a need, different requirements, but we are looking for allies and partners not to increase their Russian energy purchases,” he said.During the virtual Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden, the two leaders talked about how to reduce the great impact that this had global food supplies and prices, commodity markets, and worked together to achieve it.
I will record India has made a very strong statement in New York at the United Nations, the minister before the Indian parliament, condemned the killing of civilians in Ukraine, called for an independent investigation into these crueltresses. And I will also note that India provides significant humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine, especially drugs, which are very necessary and in real demand, “he said.Blinken said India had to make his own decision about how to approach this challenge. “We, as a general proposition, consulted with all our allies and partners about the consequences of Putin’s war, atrocity carried out on the people of Ukraine. In our assessment, it is important that all countries, especially those who have leverage, especially press Putin to end the war,” he said.
Austin told reporters that Biden “really appreciates the alliances and strong partnerships, as they have with India”. “And it’s really about today. It’s about taking a strong relationship and making it stronger, and doing things that create interoperability and allow us to work together to promote the things we all talk about. The problem of values is The center of this relationship, “he said.
Responding to other questions, Blinken said that there were, of course, long history and long relations between India and Russia, including when it came to military equipment”The relationship survived many years ago at the time when, as I said, we cannot become an Indian partner. We can now and willing to be a partner like that, to become Indian choice security partners for India. That is one of our fields Discuss in some details today, “he said.