Moscow meeting The announcement came despite senior administration officials conveying concerns to the Indian government earlier this month that the timing would complicate “impressions” for Washington, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Those involved included Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who met with External Affairs Minister Vinay Kwatra in early July and expressed a desire to reschedule the Modi-Putin meeting so it would not overlap with this week’s summit, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is sensitive. Celebrating the 75th Anniversary Since the Alliance’s founding, its members have Seeking to demonstrate strong support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
Despite US concerns, PM Modi arrived in Moscow on Monday. And he gave President Putin a warm embrace. – image Criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Putin just hours after Russian bombs struck countries across Ukraine, including a children’s hospital in Kiev, killing dozens. Modi called Putin a “dear friend.”
The episode highlights the complexities of the Biden administration as it seeks to deepen strategic ties with rising Asian powers that are willing to work with the U.S. to counter China but also determined to remain independent from Washington and maintain ties with Moscow.
Broader concerns have emerged within the Biden administration this week about the meeting and its timing, according to people familiar with the matter. “It looks terrible,” one administration official said.
“Totally inappropriate,” said another.
“We have clearly communicated our concerns about India-Russia relations directly to India,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday.
US Ambassador Eric Garcetti, speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, implicitly criticised the Moscow meeting and warned that India should not take its friendly ties with the US “for granted”.
“We are going to have to fight a lot of defensive battles to help this relationship going forward,” he said. “I respect India’s preference for strategic autonomy, but in times of conflict there is no strategic autonomy.”
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Indian officials are deeply concerned about the growing closeness between Beijing and Moscow and say diplomacy with Moscow is putting the brakes on unlimited cooperation. They say India has no choice but to nurture ties with both the United States and Russia and strike a balance between the two.
During the Cold War, Indian leaders maintained a policy of “non-alignment,” which in practice led to close military ties with the Soviet Union and distrust of the U.S. Determined to maintain its independence, India sought to avoid being seen as too closely aligned with Moscow and Washington, and to position itself as a leader in the global south.
India has sought U.S. help to counter China, its giant neighbor with which it faces tensions and border disputes. India is also eager for investment and technology sharing from the U.S. defense, space and semiconductor industries to strengthen its manufacturing base and expand its high-tech capabilities. The U.S. is India’s largest source of foreign direct investment, and the government is courting Western technology companies such as Apple as they seek to diversify their supply chains.
But India is heavily reliant on Moscow for cheap energy supplies to power an economy that is growing at 7 percent a year, and Indian government officials say they need Russian munitions and parts to maintain their military.
“I, [Biden] The Indian administration believes that Indo-Russian relations are driven partly by its own preservation, partly by its own interests, and also by strategic assessments. “The focus is on China,” said Samir Lalwani, a senior South Asia expert at the United States Institute of Peace.
Lalwani said India needs to maintain access to supplies, spare parts and technical support to maintain Russia’s vast arsenal. India is also interested in taking advantage of cheap Russian oil (it is currently the largest buyer of crude oil) to jump-start developing economies.
Indian and Russian officials said this week that they were in talks about a long-term contract for Russia to supply India with crude oil, natural gas and uranium nuclear fuel. The company It had proposed building more nuclear reactors in India.
According to officials familiar with the matter, Campbell told Kwatra that he understands that New Delhi has a long relationship with Moscow and is trying to prevent further entanglements between Russia and China. But the main concern is that Modi meeting Putin at a time when NATO’s 32 leaders are gathering in Washington could complicate NATO’s efforts to isolate Putin and call into question ambitious plans for deeper U.S.-India ties and regional dialogue.
NATO has invited the four Indo-Pacific nations, plus longtime NATO partners Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, to the summit, which will hold a working session on Thursday. India, which has refrained from condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, is neither a NATO partner nor a member of the group known as the “Indo-Pacific Four.”
On Wednesday, H.R. McMaster, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, Post to X“It is time to reassess our relationship with India based on much lower expectations.”
Campbell, a staunch supporter of US-India relations, assured Kwatra that the Biden administration will continue to work with the Modi administration to advance projects in advanced technology, defence cooperation and clean energy.. He told Kwatra that the administration supports his upcoming appointment as India’s next ambassador to the United States.
The United States sees India as a strategic counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific region. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Campbell visited New Delhi last month to advance U.S.-India partnerships in technology and discuss strengthening India’s role in multilateral cooperation with other key regional partners.
In February 2022, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to an “unlimited” partnership just days before Putin sent tens of thousands of troops across the border into Ukraine. This week, NATO allies issued a joint statement declaring that China “has become a crucial backer of Russia’s war against Ukraine through our so-called ‘unlimited’ partnership and massive support for Russia’s defense industrial base.”
“Deepening strategic partnership between Russia and China [People’s Republic of China] “The two countries’ mutually reinforcing attempts to undermine and reshape the rules-based international order are a cause for serious concern,” the document said.
This week, Russian officials and state media appeared to celebrate Modi’s visit, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Western governments were “jealous, which is why they are watching closely.”
The Biden administration “believes India is critical to its objectives with China and cannot afford to sacrifice the relationship over this unhelpful visit,” said Lisa Curtis, director of Indo-Pacific security at the Center for a New American Security and a former senior White House official in the Trump administration..
However, she added that India “certainly has good reasons to try to create a rift between China and Russia, but the reality is that it won’t be able to do that. I think that’s wishful thinking.”
