US President Joe Biden told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a virtual meeting on Monday that it was not in India’s interest to increase its energy imports from Russia.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki described the meeting as productive and constructive rather than “hostile,” but declined to say whether Biden had requested any specific commitments from India on energy imports.
Also, Psaki said Biden told Modi that the United States stands ready to help India diversify its energy imports, noting that India’s imports from the United States are already much larger than Russia’s.
“The president has made it clear that it is not in their interest to do so further,” she said.
Russia’s oil (figurative)
In parallel, a senior US administration official said that the US president discussed issues related to Ukraine, including India’s energy purchases from Russia, with Prime MinisterHindi in a virtual meeting, but he did not make a “concrete request” to do so.
The official added that India would make its own decisions, but the United States believed that India should not speed up energy purchases from Russia after its military operation in Ukraine.
Also, the official said, the two leaders had a productive and frank conversation that lasted an hour.
strategic partnership
The Biden administration wants to strengthen American alliances in the Asia-Pacific region to confront China, especially the re-launch of the so-called Quad Quad alliance between the United States, India, Australia and Japan, which is embarrassing because of New Delhi’s positioning since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
While India abstained from voting on resolutions condemning Moscow at the United Nations, it expressed its “grave concern” over the “murder” of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
New Delhi describes Moscow as a “key pillar” of India’s foreign policy because of the “strategic partnership” of its national security.
A virtual meeting between Biden and Modi (AFP)
rupee and ruble
The United States has warned that any country that helps Russia circumvent international sanctions will face “consequences.”
India and Russia are seeking to establish a rupee and ruble payment mechanism to facilitate trade exchanges and circumvent Western sanctions imposed on Russian banks, according to media reports.
New Delhi and Moscow have had close ties since the Cold War, and Russia remains India’s largest arms supplier.
Besides oil and weapons, India imports fertilizers and rough diamonds from Russia, and exports pharmaceutical products, tea and coffee.
The White House is well aware of India’s military dependence on Russia, but it intends to maintain a close dialogue with New Delhi.
balanced approach
He recently sent one of Joe Biden’s top security advisers, Dalip Singh, to the Indian capital for talks that were later described as “productive”.
The visit coincided with the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to New Delhi to praise India’s balanced approach, he said, to the war in Ukraine.
On the US side, efforts are being made to convince India that betting on Russia will eventually weaken it in the face of China, while New Delhi shares the West’s concern about Beijing’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region.