‘Encouraged India to utilise its unique position’: US asks India to urge Russia to stop the Ukraine war

The US State Department has urged India to utilise its relationship with Russia to end the war against Ukraine. It observed that India has a longstanding relationship with Russia. 

US State Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller said during his daily briefing on Monday that India has the unique position to urge President Vladimir Putin to stop the war. “India has a longstanding relationship with Russia. I think that’s well-known. And we have encouraged India to utilise that relationship with Russia, that longstanding relationship and the unique position that they have, to urge President Putin to end his illegal war and to find a just peace, a lasting peace to this conflict; to tell Putin to respect the UN Charter, to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he said.

Miller said that the US will continue to impress the same thing upon the Indian government, which is an important partner for them when it comes to the relationship with Russia. Miller had made similar remarks on July 9 after PM Modi left Russia. 

Meanwhile, PM Modi, during his Russia visit, where he met President Vladimir Putin, that the solution to the conflict with Ukraine is not on the battlefield but through peace talks. He also mourned the death of children in Kyiv after a Russian missile hit a hospital, killing 37 people. 

However, India has not condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine. Three days after PM Modi’s Moscow visit, India had abstained on a resolution in the UN General Assembly that demanded Russia immediately cease its aggression against Ukraine and withdraw its military and other unauthorised personnel from Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 

India was one of the 60 countries that abstained from the resolution that demanded Russia withdraw its military forces from Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy critices PM Modi’s visit to Russia. He said, “It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hug the world's most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.” 

India has reportedly expressed its displeasure at Zelenskyy’s remarks with the Ukraine mission in New Delhi.