Biden finds India’s stance towards Russia to be ‘somewhat shaky’

Asia-Pacific, Europe, News, US March 24, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. President Joe Biden said that India is ‘somewhat shaky’ in imposing sanctions against Russia.

India has been trying to balance its relationship with both West and Russia by neither condemning nor acknowledging Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

India is a Quad member state and a close ally of the United States. While all the other Quad member states – the U.S., Japan, and Australia – have openly adopted economic sanctions against Russia, India seems hesitant in following the steps of Quad member states.

Despite India’s deepening relations with the United States, Russia remains its biggest military hardware supplier as well as an energy partner. India has been urging the warring states to bring an end to the conflict and resolve the matter through negotiations.

While speaking at a business forum on March 21, U.S. President Joe Biden stated that “In response to his (Russian President Vladimir Putin) aggression, we have presented a united front throughout the NATO and in the Pacific.”

He further added that “The Quad, with the possible exception of India being somewhat shaky, Japan has been extremely strong, so is Australia in terms of dealing with Putin’s aggression.”

In other terms of events on the same day, Indian and Australian Prime Ministers carried out a virtual meeting after which India Foreign Ministry stated that India has made its position clear on the matter with an understanding from both sides.

India has been taking advantage of the Western sanctions on Russia by buying the Russian oil supply at significantly cheaper rates. Two of the Indian state-owned companies have ordered more than 5 million barrels of Russian oil. While speaking on increasing amounts of oil imports from Russia, Indian administration officials stated that most of the European countries are still buying fuel from Russia despite opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

*^{Workers walk past oil barrels at a filling station in n Chennai on February 24, 2022. (Image Credit: Arun Sankar/AFP)}*

During her press briefing after a meeting with India’s foreign secretary on March 21, US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland also spoke on the matter of India’s increasing oil imports from Russia by stating that, “we have made it clear in our conversation that we understand that’s not something that you can cut off immediately, in the same way, that we’ve been clear with our European allies who are still too dependent on Russian energy that we understand that they will have to evolve away from it as well.”

Nuland added that “we want to 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.”

India’s partnership with the West stands on the foundations of its rivalry against China while keeping a friendly relationship with Russia. However, now when the West is standing against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, India finds itself in a difficult situation of choosing between Russia and the West.