Use “special partnership” with Russia to stop war in Ukraine: US tells India

Washington:

The United States wants India to use its “special partnership” with Russia to put “pressure” on Moscow to stop the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and work for lasting peace in the region, Department of Defense spokeswoman Hindustani said. US State, Margaret MacLeod.

The US official also reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s famous quote “This is not an era of war”, which the Prime Minister told Russian President Vladimir Putin during the SCO Summit in Bali in 2022.

Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, MacLeod said, “The US is urging all its partners, including India, to pressure Russia for lasting peace in Ukraine. Russia should pull out of Ukraine. This is not an era of war , as the Prime Minister (PM Modi) said.”

“India and Russia share a very special partnership. We wish India to use this special partnership to pressure Russia (against the war)… Russia’s war in Ukraine is a violation of the UN Charter,” he added.

When asked how the US and the West view India’s position in the conflict with Ukraine, the US official said: “It would be better if you asked the Indian government about India’s position.”

“But from the United States’ perspective, Russia is violating Ukraine’s sovereignty. It is attacking civilian infrastructure. Just yesterday, we saw the attack on the children’s hospital, where there were no Ukrainian soldiers… this is against the Charter of the UN and international law,” she added.

More than 40 children were killed in missile attacks on a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital on Monday. Kyiv blamed Moscow for the attack.

Regarding the ongoing NATO Summit in Washington DC, MacLeod said the alliance intends to discuss the vision for the next 75 years at this meeting. She also said that announcements of aid packages for Ukraine will be made during the summit.

“At this NATO Summit, we celebrate 75 years of peace, unity, development and innovation and we will discuss preparations for the next 75 years”, said the North American official.

“Most NATO members are in Europe, right where the Russia-Ukraine war is raging, so this is a very serious issue for them (European NATO members)… A large aid package for NATO will be announced Ukraine. We will also get an announcement from Germany to create a coordination cell,” he added.

The NATO Summit will take place from 9 to 11 July in Washington DC.

The summit took place at a crucial time when the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which began in February 2022, intensified and also when some fissures emerged in NATO, between the skepticism of some European partners and comments from former US President Donald Trump , against the alliance.

This is also the first NATO Summit after the inclusion of two new Member States – Finland and Sweden.

Speaking about the $60 price cap placed on the purchase of Russian crude oil, the US official said the price cap helped “reduce” Russia’s earnings and wants to further reduce the resources at Moscow’s disposal.

“We want as few resources as possible to reach Russia because it is using the same profits to attack Ukraine. The price cap has impacted Russia’s profits, but as long as it (Russia) is able to win, it will continue to attack Ukraine … so we want to reduce their earnings as much as possible,” MacLeod said.

Notably, despite pressure from Western countries, India continued to purchase crude oil from Russia within the price limit, which several ministers and government officials claimed helped keep domestic petrol and diesel prices stable.

Further, talking about India-US ties, the US official said that ties between the two countries are very strong and added that Washington wants to further strengthen its ties with New Delhi.

“We see that there are deep relations between India and the US, we are involved in many issues… sometimes we have differences of perspectives, but we have a free, frank and open dialogue between us. We are very positive about our relationship… our government wants to further strengthen our bilateral relationship,” she said.

When asked about the direction of India-US relations given it is an election year in the US, MacLeod said she cannot comment on her country’s domestic politics, but stated that “historically, both parties (Republican and Democrat) have worked to strengthen relations with India.”

Prime Minister Modi paid a state visit to the US in June last year. After this, President Joe Biden came to India for the G20 Summit last year.

The Quad Summit between the two nations is also expected to be held later this year in India.