Modi says killing of civilians in Ukraine worrying, suggests direct talks between Putin, Zelenskyy

The talks took place as the United States seeks more help from India in applying economic pressure on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine

With India and the United States trying to narrow differences over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had a virtual meeting with President Joe Biden and expressed concern over the situation in the East European country, terming the reports of the killing of innocent civilians “very worrying”.

The prime minister, however, stuck to India's policy of avoiding direct criticism of Russia for invading Ukraine.

Biden said that the United States would continue to hold “close consultations” with India on how to manage the “destabilising effects” of Russia's aggression against Ukraine. He tacitly hinted that his administration would keep on nudging the Modi Government to take a tougher stand against President Vladimir Putin's decision to launch the military operations in the East European nation.

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The virtual meeting between Modi and Biden was followed by India-US 2+2 ministerial dialogue. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reached Washington D.C. and joined their US counterparts – Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin – for the 2+2 dialogue.

During a one-to-one meeting with Singh before the 2+2 dialogue started, Austin sought to draw a parallel between China's belligerence against India and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region and Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

“Beijing is not alone in its efforts to undermine the security of its neighbours and to change the status quo by force. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian devastation that it has created are blatant attempts to undermine the international order that is grounded in the rules and the principles that we share,” the US Secretary of Defence said. He told Singh that China was eroding the security of the Indo-Pacific region from its construction of dual-use infrastructure along its border with India to its unlawful claims in the South China Sea. “We will continue to stand alongside you as you defend your sovereign interest,” he told his counterpart from New Delhi.

Modi on Monday particularly expressed concern over the killing of innocent civilians at Bucha in Ukraine and said that he had urged both Putin and his counterpart in Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to hold direct talks to end the conflict.

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“Recently, the news of the killings of innocent civilians in the city of Bucha was very worrying. We immediately condemned it and have asked for an independent probe,” he said in his opening remarks during the virtual meeting with the US President.

He told the US President that India had to evacuate nearly 20000 of its citizens – mostly young students – from the war zones of Ukraine, although one of them (Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagaudar from Karnataka) had been killed. He also referred to India's humanitarian assistance to the war-torn East European nation.

“I want to welcome India's humanitarian support for the people in Ukraine who are suffering a horrific assault, including a tragic shelling in a train station last week that killed dozens of innocent children and women and civilians attempting to flee the violence,” Biden told Modi.

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Singh, Jaishankar, Blinken and Austin were with Biden at the White House as he held the video conference with Modi. Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was also present.

New Delhi’s refusal to toe the Biden Administration’s line on the Russia-Ukraine conflict added to the strains in India-US relations. India abstained from voting on several US-backed resolutions at the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Biden Administration of late not-so-subtly conveyed to New Delhi its displeasure over India's discussion with Russia to explore ways to continue bilateral trade circumventing the sanctions the US and the other western nations imposed on President Vladimir Putin's nation after he ordered the launch of military operations in Ukraine on February 24 last.

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Daleep Singh, the US President's Deputy National Security Advisor on International Economics, of late stated in New Delhi that the nations trying to circumvent the restrictions the US imposed on transactions with banks in Russia would face “consequences”.

He also said that the US would not like to see a rapid acceleration of India's imports from Russia, be it energy or any other commodities.

India already started to buy about 16 million barrels of crude oil from sanctions-hit Russia at a discounted price, notwithstanding criticism in the US and the UK.

New Delhi and Moscow are also discussing expanding the use of national currencies, the rupee and rouble, to circumvent the US sanctions on Russia and pay for imports from each other.

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