We Hope To Work Closely With India To End Russian Aggression: US

The United States has expressed hope that it can work with India to bring an end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing on March 2. He said that India has the ability to speak with moral clarity.

Responding to a question about the role India can play to bring an end to the ongoing conflict, Price said, "India has the ability we have seen from Prime Minister Modi to speak with tremendous moral clarity. When Prime Minister Modi said last year "this is not an era of war", the world listened as they should because when Prime Minister Modi and his country said something to that effect, its meaningful to the United States, it's meaningful to Russia, it is meaningful to countries near and far."

"We will continue to work with our Indian partners they obviously have a unique role to play in this as the G20 host. But, also as a country with whom we have global strategic partnership and a country that has a unique relationship with Russia that we don't and just as India has consistently expressed that this is not and should not be an era of war," he added.

He said, "We hope that we can work closely with India to bring about an end to this war, an end to this Russian aggression to an end that is at its core just endurable and very much in line with the principles in the UN charter." Price said that India has longstanding and historical ties with Russia and is connected to Russia in many ways that US is not."

Price said that India has ties with Russia that are distinct from the US ties with Moscow. He stressed that India has tremendous leverage in various sectors, including economic, political and moral leverage.

"There are countries around the world that have a relationship with Russia that is distinct from the one we have, India certainly falls within that category. India has longstanding, historical ties to Russia. It is connected to Russia in ways that United States is not and for that matter has not been. India also has tremendous leverage in different areas whether its economic leverage, diplomatic leverage, political leverage, but also moral leverage," Ned Price said.

During his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's summit in Samarkand last year, PM Modi said, "Today's era is not of war and I have spoken to you about it on the call." Notably, India has consistently called for dialogue to bring an end to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to reverse Moscow's "irresponsible decision" and return to implementing the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treat) nuclear arms reduction treaty.

"I spoke briefly with Russian FM Lavrov today," said Blinken as he confirmed that he met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of G20 in New Delhi.

"I urged Russia to reverse its irresponsible decision and return to implementing the New START, which places verifiable limits on the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russian Federation. Mutual compliance is in the interest of both our countries. It's also what people around the world expect from us as nuclear powers," Blinken added.

He further said, "I told the foreign minister that no matter what else is happening in the world or in our relationship, the United States will always be ready to engage and act on strategic arms control, just as the United States and the Soviet Union did even at the height of the Cold War."

The meeting was the first face-to-face meeting between the two foreign ministers since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine which began over a year ago and triggered a rift between Western countries and Russia. He said that every country continues to bear the cost of Russia's aggression.

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