New Delhi: US President Joe Biden on Monday told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that importing more Russian oil was not in New Delhi’s interest, even as he asserted that Washington would continue “close consultations” with India to manage the “destabilising effect” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The push from the highest level in the United States specifically endorsed the message conveyed by deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh, who said that there would be “consequences” if India attempted to actively circumvent the sanctions against Russia.
White House Press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden’s remarks in his call with the Indian leader were “consistent with what our deputy national security advisor, of course, did during his visit just a few weeks ago”.
She was referring to the visit of Daleep Singh, US deputy NSA for international economics, who is considered the chief architect of the sanctions against Russia.
Singh’s blunt message had annoyed New Delhi, which had led the White House to clarify earlier that the US had not warned India over buying Russian oil.
However, following the Modi-Biden call on Monday, the White House asserted that the US President had endorsed the missive delivered by Daleep Singh.
The US President made it “clear that it was in India’s interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities,” Psaki said.
She stated that while Russian crude accounts for just 1-2% of India’s energy imports, “we also made clear that we will be happy to help them diversify this as well”.
US President Biden had requested for the virtual interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first one-on-one interaction since the Ukraine war began on February 24. They had previously taken part in the ‘Quad’ leaders summit in March.
The virtual meeting was held hours before the ‘2 plus 2’ bilateral engagement between top foreign policy and defence officials in Washington on Monday.
India’s external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh, who had travelled to Washington for the first ‘2 plus 2’ meeting under the Biden administration, sat at the round table with the US President as he began the talks.
Also read: ‘With Us or Against Us?’: What to Expect from the India-US ‘2+2’ Ministerial Talks
In a reflection of India’s stance, there had been no mention of Ukraine on the bilateral agenda in the Indian press release announcing the virtual meeting between the two leaders. However, the White House statement was categorical that President Biden would talk about the “ consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilising impact on global food supply and commodity markets”.
The two leaders ‘ opening remarks clearly showed the differences between New Delhi and Washington over their public posturing on Ukraine.
“US and India are going to continue our close consultation on how to manage the destabilising effect of the Russian war. And I am looking forward to our discussion today,” he said.
India has been increasing its purchase of Russian crude to reduce the spiralling fuel import bill. But, this has met with disapproval in Western capitals, where economic sanctions have been the primary weapon in pressuring Russia to withdraw from Ukraine.
India had asserted that it has been open to talks with Russia to “stabilise” its “established” economic relationship with Russia. Both countries have been in the negotiations for setting up a payment mechanism that will allow India to keep on buying Russian commodities.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov praised India for not taking a “one-sided view” on the Ukraine war during his visit.
From Daleep Singh to Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo, senior US administration officials have increasingly made public noises about their discomfort with India attempting to thwart western sanctions. India responded by pointing out that Europe was still buying fuel from Russia and demanded “political colouring” should not be attributed to New Delhi’s actions.
At a background briefing on the Modi-Biden call, a senior US administration described the conversation as “very candid.”
“We know that not all countries will be able to do what we’ve done. We know that India is not a major consumer of Russian oil. Its current imports are about 1 to 2 per cent of its total energy imports. And, as of now, our energy payments — our energy payments are exempt from current sanctions. And we’ve been very clear that we’ve been able to ban oil and LNG and coal imports from Russia, but other countries have to make their own choices,” he said.
In his opening remarks, Biden also acknowledged that India had sent humanitarian support to the war-ravaged country.
“On that note, I want to welcome India’s humanitarian support for people of Ukraine who are suffering a horrific assault, including a tragic attack on a train station,” said the US President. Biden’s reference to the Indian assistance came after his previous assertion that the “root” of the India-US partnership is a “deep connection between our people, ties of family, friendship and shared values”.
The Indian PM stated that India remains deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine. He also repeated India’s condemnation of the killing of civilians in Bucha, which Ukrainian and Western governments had blamed on Russian soldiers.
In line with India’s stance, Modi did not, as usual, criticise Russia directly but restated India’s demand for an impartial probe.
“The news of the recent killings of innocent civilians in Bucha city was very worrying. We condemned it immediately and have also demanded an independent investigation”.
In answer to repeated media queries on whether US pressure would finally lead India to condemn the Ukraine invasion, the White House spokesperson only observed that India had “condemned” the Bucha killing. However, she did not state that New Delhi had not pointed the finger at Russia for allegedly carrying out the civilian massacre.
India has, so far, abstained from voting on all the ten resolutions brought by western countries against Russia in UN bodies, including the latest one, which expelled the Russian delegation from the UN Human Rights Council.
Modi also hoped that ongoing dialogue between Russia and Ukraine would lead to peace.
“I spoke on the phone several times with the Presidents of both Ukraine and Russia. Not only did I appeal for peace, but I also suggested President Putin to have direct talks with the President of Ukraine. The subject of Ukraine has also been discussed in great detail in our Parliament,” said Modi.
He also referred to India’s evacuation of 20,000 medical students from Ukraine after the invasion began.
The US side also sought to wean India away from Russia by referring to Moscow’s tight embrace of Beijing. This had also been a refrain of visiting US officials in India.
“…we know that India has concerns about the links between Russia and China. India, of course, is facing a very tense situation along the Line of Actual Control. And when India sees the tight links between China and Russia, that’s obviously going to impact their thinking,” the senior US administration official told reporters.
In answer to another question during the briefing, Psaki added that no decision had been taken on providing India with a waiver against the CAATSA sanctions triggered by the purchase of the S-400 missile system.
Note: This story has been updated with new information since it was first published.