India 'shaky' on Ukraine invasion: Biden builds up pressure

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 22

The US continues to mount pressure on India regarding its stand on Ukraine. US President Joe Biden said India was the only Quad member that was “somewhat shaky” in acting against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

US envoy: Will help source oil, arms

• US envoy Victoria Nuland offers to help India source oil, defence hardware independently of Russia
• Says democracies need to stand together

“In response to his (Putin’s) aggression, we have presented a united front throughout NATO and in the Pacific. With the possible exception of India being somewhat shaky on some of these issues, Quad member Japan has been extremely strong, so is Australia in terms of dealing with Putin’s aggression,” said Biden. Separately, visiting senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland counselled the need for democracies to “stand together and evolve their position” while offering to help India source Russian-origin military hardware from elsewhere if it wanted to completely reduce its dependence on Moscow.

Nuland, who met Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, offered to help India source oil and defence equipment independently from Russia. “We have been supporting the sourcing of security needs for Ukraine, along with our allies and partners, from around the world, including some Soviet-era equipment,” she said in an interview to a TV channel.

Nuland said the US had not asked partners like India to suddenly stop energy purchases from Russia. “We have made clear in our conversation that we understand that’s not something that you can cut off immediately... But what we can do is work together to find alternative sources over time. And that’s what we hope to do with India, whether it’s with regard to the security relationship, the energy relationship, etc,” she said.

“Democracies need to stand together and evolve their position vis-a-vis Russia because of the choices Putin has made. Democracies must stand against autocracies like Russia and China,” she underlined.

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