US fails to sway India

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a “candid exchange of views” on the Ukraine crisis at a virtual summit on April 11, but the United States appeared to have made little progress in wooing India away from its neutral stance on Russia, according to media reports.

Biden made no major demands of India, and there was no indication of significant progress toward a unified posture on the Ukraine conflict.

Meanwhile, India reiterated its support to Russia, as its Defense

Minister Rajnath Singh called the two countries “natural allies”.

When asked whether India was considering further diversification of its defense procurement after the start of Russia’s operation in Ukraine, Singh said in an interview with the Hindustan Times, “Wait and see”.

Modi has tried to walk a tightrope between maintaining relations with the West, but has raised concerns in Washington by continuing to buy Russian oil.

India has reportedly bought at least 13 million barrels of crude oil from Russia since Feb 24, compared with nearly 16 million barrels in all of 2021, given the huge discounts offered by Moscow.

At a State Department news conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar pointedly suggested that Europe, not India, be the focus of Washington’s concern about energy purchases from Russia.

“I suspect, looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon,” he said.