US raises Ukraine war in talks with India

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar have discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the sidelines of a summit in Japan, according to a statement from Washington.

The US official met with his Indian counterpart at a gathering of the so-called โ€˜Quadโ€™ nations โ€“ Australia, India, Japan and the US โ€“ in Tokyo on Sunday. During the discussion, Blinken โ€œunderscored the importance of realizing a just and enduring peace for Ukraine consistent with the UN Charterโ€, the State Department announced.

The meeting came ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modiโ€™s proposed visit to Ukraine later this month, the details of which are currently being finalized, according to an official cited by The Hindu daily newspaper.

The trip is seen as an attempt to balance New Delhiโ€™s ties with the West, which was reportedly frustrated by Modiโ€™s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month. Russia was chosen as Modiโ€™s first bilateral visit after he assumed office for a third term.

After the meeting with Blinken, Jaishankar noted on X (formerly Twitter) that bilateral ties are progressing โ€œsteadilyโ€, but did not mention Ukraine.

The Ukraine conflict did feature in a joint statement released after the Quad foreign ministersโ€™ meeting in Tokyo, which expressed โ€œdeepest concernโ€ over the hostilities and their โ€œterrible and tragic humanitarian consequences”.

The โ€˜Quadโ€™ is an informal grouping largely seen as a Washington-led initiative aimed at balancing Chinaโ€™s influence in the Indo-Pacific.

India has so far refused to condemn Russia or downgrade ties over the Ukraine conflict, despite pressure from the West. Jaishankar has repeatedly stated that New Delhi aims to balance its ties with both the West and Moscow, also stressing that peace can be achieved through dialogue and diplomacy. Last month, New Delhi refused to sign the final document of a Swiss-hosted โ€˜peace summitโ€™ on Ukraine, to which Russia was not invited.

During his visit to Moscow, Modi again stressed that there is no โ€œpeace on the battlefieldโ€ and that solutions โ€œcan only be found through dialogue”.

Ukraineโ€™s President Vladimir Zelensky reacted angrily to Modiโ€™s meeting with Putin, which he described as a โ€œdevastating blow to peace effortsโ€. New Delhi reportedly summoned the Ukrainian ambassador over the remarks.

Modiโ€™s visit to Russia came under similar scrutiny in Washington. US State Department official Donald Lu told a congressional hearing last week that the White House had been disappointed by the โ€œsymbolismโ€ and โ€œtimingโ€ of Modiโ€™s visit. Senior officials in the administration of President Joe Biden were also โ€œfrustratedโ€ that the visit coincided with a NATO 75th anniversary summit in the US capital, the Washington Post reported.

Responding to the criticism, New Delhi told the West to recognize the reality of multipolarity, and that countries have โ€œfreedom of choiceโ€ in terms of their engagements on the global stage.

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