US Says India Has To Decide
US says India has to decide how they will deal with the Russian War. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered the message to the Indian Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
He also said that they would continue to call on all nations to back up Ukraine “just as we call on all nations to condemn Moscow’s increasingly brutal actions.”
“Russia’s war against Ukraine is an attack on Ukraine’s people. It’s also an attack on that rules-based order that we both adhere to and defend.”
“[United States] will continue to increase our support to the government and people of Ukraine and call on other nations to do the same, just as we call on all nations to condemn Moscow’s increasingly brutal actions.”
“[Russian War] stands in stark contrast to the vision that the United States and India share for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” and noted that Moscow’s actions were having worldwide consequences.
“India has to make its own decisions about how it approaches” the Russian war in Ukraine and that the US believes “it is important that all countries, especially those with leverage, press Putin to end the war.”
Consequences of War
“We, as a general proposition, are consulting with all of our allies and partners on the consequences of Putin’s war, the atrocities being committed against the people of Ukraine,” Blinken said.
Blinken said it was important that “democracies stand together and speak with one voice to defend the values that we share — and we do share, profoundly, the values of freedom, openness, independence, sovereignty, and those values need to apply everywhere.”
The top US diplomat noted that “India’s relationship with Russia has developed over decades, at a time when the United States was not able to be a partner to India,” but “times have changed” and the US is “able and willing to be a partner of choice with India.”
“And I would also note that India is providing significant humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine, notably medicines which are very necessary and in real demand,” he added.