Ukraine Crisis | India Should Leverage Relation With Russia To Protect International Order: US

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said India has a relationship with Russia that “we certainly don’t have”.

US President Joe Biden| File Photo: Getty

Washington: Amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States has said India, which shares a “distinct” relationship with Moscow, must certainly use that leverage in a constructive way to protect international order.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said India has a relationship with Russia that “we certainly don’t have”.

“India and Russia have a relationship, including in the defense and security sector, that we don’t have. And again, we have asked every country that has a relationship, and certainly those countries that have leverage, to use that leverage in a constructive way,” PTI quoted Price as saying.

The State Department spokesperson said the U.S. shares “important interests” and “values” with India.

“We share important interests with India. We share important values with India,” Price said while responding to a poser on India-US relationship in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and whether the crisis has strained the bilateral relationship.

“And we know India has a relationship with Russia that is distinct from the relationship that we have with Russia. Of course, that is okay,” he added at his daily news conference on Friday.

The State Department spokesperson said India has a relationship with Russia that “we certainly don’t have”.

Asserting the U.S. has a broad strategic partnership with India, Price said: “As you know, we had an opportunity to see our Indian counterpart Foreign Minister Jaishankar in Australia just the other day when we were in the Indo-Pacific for a meeting of the Quad.”

“What we have done, including in the context of the bilateral discussion we had with Foreign Minister Jaishankar in Melbourne, was to share our fervent belief that countries around the world, especially those countries that have a level of influence, of clout, of leverage with the Russian Federation, needed to use that to good effect, needed to use that to protect the rules-based international order,” he added.

The State Department spokesperson’s remarks come as Russia has launched multiple attacks on several areas in central and eastern Ukraine, drawing widespread condemnation and sanctions from several countries, including the U.S.

Responding to another question on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden visit to Moscow this week and his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Price said that Washington has communicated to Islamabad its position on what was then the threat of a Russian invasion and what is now the ongoing Russian “invasion” of Ukraine.

“Well, I will leave it to our Pakistani partners to speak to their position on this,” said Price when asked if the U.S. saw any realignment of forces as a result of the Pakistan Prime Minister’s visit to Russia.

“What I can say is that we communicated to Pakistan our position on what was then the threat of a Russian invasion and what is now the ongoing Russian invasion against Ukraine,” he added.

The State Department spokesperson further said: “Just as India does, Pakistan knows precisely where we stand on this.”

“These are, again, rules, norms, guidelines that benefit India, Pakistan, the United States, and Russia as well,” he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Putin met Khan in the Kremlin in his first face-to-face talks since the start of the special Russian military operation in eastern Ukraine.

The two leaders during the meeting discussed the main aspects of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on current regional topics, including developments in South Asia.