There is ‘evolution’ in some of India’s public positions on Russia says US official

There has been an “evolution” in some of India’s public positions on Russia, a senior Biden administration official has told US lawmakers, hoping that New Delhi would further distance itself from Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. On February 24, Russian forces unleashed an attack on Ukraine on President Vladimir Putin’s orders. Russia and Ukraine said Wednesday that they were prepared to hold talks for the second time since the Russian invasion of its neighbour.

“We can already see an evolution in some of India’s public positions,” Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism during a hearing on Wednesday on US-India relationship. Referring to the very fact that India abstained from the UN Security Council vote on Russia, Lu underscored the statements made by India’s Permanent Representatives at the United Nations.

“We have seen a number of abstentions. We have seen this interesting evolution just in the past couple of days. So, as you have seen yesterday, the Indian government said it would send a humanitarian airlift of humanitarian supplies from India to Ukraine. That’s important. That’s a request that’s coming from Ukraine’s leadership,” he said.

“Second, in a UN session, it called for all states to abide by the UN Charter to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states. That wasn’t a criticism of Russia, but a very clear reference to Russia’s violation of the UN Charter, in violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. So, we’re making small steps,” he said in response to a question.“We work every day to make sure that we’re trying to close the gap between where we are and where our Indian partners are,” Lu said.

The American diplomat who had earlier served in India and Central Asia as well said he knows a lot about the Indian students in Ukraine.“What they’re facing not only the dangers from falling Russian bombs but the sense that they’re having a hard time getting out because of perceived lack of wellness now in Ukraine,” he said. “And then, India has maintained that it wants not to take either side because it wants to be a partner that’s trying to work towards a diplomatic solution. We have seen them make the right phone calls that suggest they are serious about that. Unfortunately, they have not yet been effective in doing so,” Lu said.

India, he said, has focused on two things when trying to explain its position on Russia. “One that continues to want to leave on the table the possibility of a diplomatic resolution of this conflict. As we have said, that looks more and more unlikely as the Russian troops continue to pound civilian targets in Ukraine, but this remains, their public position remains what we hear from them in private,” he said.

“The second thing that they emphasise is India has 18,000 students still in Ukraine and they are trying to work with both the Government of Ukraine and with the Government of Russia to safeguard those well,” Lu said. On Tuesday, India said approximately 8,000 Indians, mainly students, are still stranded in Ukraine and efforts are on to evacuate all of them.