'War in Ukraine reinforced relationship with India; did not break ties,' says US official

India’s long-standing relationship with Russia gives it a unique position to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war and to withdraw from Ukrainian territory, Biden administration’s point person for South and Central Asia on Thursday said that the war in Ukraine has in fact “reinforced” India-US bilateral ties, instead of breaking it.

“It's true, we have not always shared the same approach to Russia's war in Ukraine. But we do share the belief that this war should end as soon as possible, and it should end according to the UN Charter, principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence,” US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu told PTI in an interview.

“India’s long-standing relationship with Russia gives it a unique position to urge Vladimir Putin to end his war and to withdraw from Ukrainian territory. We agree with India that Russia's war in Ukraine must end with a negotiated settlement and that enduring and just peace is essential,” Lu said in response to a question.

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“We welcome India's support for the people of Ukraine by providing humanitarian assistance. And we welcome Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's comments at the G20 Summit in Bali, calling for dialogue and diplomacy,” he said.

Since the first days of the war, India and the United States have had constant communication at the highest levels of their governments and that cooperation will continue, he said.

“We are hopeful that India can use its relationship and its influence with Russia to call for Russia to end this war,” he said.

Responding to a question, Lu said the Ukraine war had not been a “difficult moment” in this relationship. “In fact, I've said the opposite, which is to look at where we are now. We didn't come from the same perspective and yet we found a way to communicate seriously about this. We found a way to listen to one another. We found a way to support one another in this process of trying to create our policies,” he said.

“I recall a time when India was trying to evacuate its students from Ukraine and I hope that India felt the support of America as it did this. I know that we've had lots of discussions about India's interaction with Russia and with Ukraine through this crisis, and we've had quite good communication,” he said.

“So, what's interesting is that the Ukrainian war did not break our relations. In fact, it reinforced our relations. It reinforced an ability to work through disagreements sometimes to find a way to work together cooperatively. I'm actually very optimistic. If we can work through that tough issue, we can work through anything,” Lu told PTI.