Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 31: The US and Australia chastised India for considering a Russian plan that would weaken sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, revealing a widening chasm between the potential security partners. This happened as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov headed to Delhi for discussions.
According to Bloomberg, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, “Now is the time to stand on the right side of history, and to stand with the United States and dozens of other countries, standing up for freedom, democracy and sovereignty with the Ukrainian people, and not funding and fueling and aiding President Putin’s war.”
She called reports of the arrangement “deeply disappointing,” while adding that she hadn’t seen details.
Australia’s trade minister, Dan Tehan, also spoke at the briefing, emphasising the importance of democracies cooperating “to keep the rules-based approach that we’ve had since the second world war.”
The remarks reflect rising scepticism of India among members of the Quad, a coalition of democracies attempting to resist China’s assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific area that includes the United States, Australia, and Japan. India is the world’s largest consumer of Russian armaments, and it has also been looking for low-cost oil as fuel prices have risen.
While India has supported calls for a cease-fire and a diplomatic solution, it has voted against draught resolutions criticising Russia’s invasion at the United Nations, which were eventually vetoed by Moscow.
After the United States and the European Union barred seven Russian banks from using the Belgium-based cross-border payment system operator, Bloomberg reported Wednesday that India is considering a strategy to make rupee-ruble payments using an alternative to SWIFT.
With China’s foreign minister visiting for the first time since 2019, and now Lavrov seeking to shore up support, India’s middle-ground position on the war has been subjected to a flurry of diplomacy in recent weeks. Simultaneously, the US and its allies are ramping their involvement in an attempt to sway Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
India has countered US worries by stating that it requires Russian armaments to resist China, particularly after border clashes in 2020, and that alternatives are too costly. Even as Modi has pulled India further toward the US orbit in recent years, the strategic alliance between India and Russia dates back to the Cold War and remains strong.
