US Dy NSA raises war ‘consequences’ in India

NEW DELHI: The US doesn’t want to see a “rapid acceleration” in India’s imports from Russia of energy and other commodities prohibited by global sanctions regimes, and there will be consequences for countries that attempt to circumvent the embargoes, US deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh said on Thursday.

Singh, seen as the architect of American sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle and the Russian financial system, also cautioned India against expecting Russia to come to the country’s defence if China were to violate the LAC since Moscow and Beijing are now in a “no-limits partnership”.

During an interaction with a small group of journalists amid his engagements with Indian interlocutors, Singh was unusually blunt in his remarks about the consequences for any country trying to backfill sanctions imposed on Russia for “Putin’s needless war” against Ukraine. However, he noted that friends

such as the US and India don’t set “red lines”, and his discussions in New Delhi amounted to an “honest dialogue” about protecting core principles underpinning global peace and security.

He added the US is ready to help India diversify both energy supplies and military hardware but acknowledged this will be a time consuming process. “...we stand ready to help India diversify its energy resources, much like is the case for defence resources over a period of time,” he said. There was no immediate response from

Indian officials to Singh’s remarks. US has acknowledged India’s position as a key partner in the Indopacific as well as its reliance on Russia for defence hardware. However, there has been growing pressure on India to change its stance on the Ukraine crisis. “What we would not like to see is a rapid acceleration of India’s imports from Russia as it relates to energy or any other exports that are currently being prohibited by the US or by other aspects of the international sanctions regime,” Singh said on Thursday.