American diplomat expects increased Indian involvement in Ukraine

WASHINGTON:

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday that he expected word soon that India was engaging more with Ukraine, responding to a question at a Senate hearing on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow this month.

“I think we’re likely to hear news about India getting more directly involved in Ukraine. I’m grateful for that. I think India wants to play a responsible role globally,” Campbell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Western countries have imposed sanctions on Moscow after its all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but nations such as India and China have continued to do business with Russia.

Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month as a Russian missile attack hit a hospital in Kiev and killed 44 people across the country, prompting international condemnation.

Indian media have reported that Modi is likely to visit Ukraine in August, his first visit to the country since Russia invaded in 2022.

Asked about Campbell’s comments, the Indian embassy in Washington referred to a news briefing in Tokyo on Monday by Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in which he said more needed to be done to encourage negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine and that India is one of the few countries that was in contact with both sides.

“We think we should be more active there,” Jaishankar said, adding that Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy before his visit to Moscow.

“I can reasonably expect that there will be more contacts between us and Ukraine and between us and Russia as well,” Jaishankar said when asked about the possibility of Modi visiting Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Jaishankar in Japan on Sunday and stressed the importance of a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine.

The State Department has raised concerns about India’s relationship with Russia, especially at a time when it is seeking to strengthen ties with India as a potential counterweight to China.

New Delhi resisted pressure to distance itself from Moscow after the invasion, citing its long-standing ties with Russia and its economic needs.

Campbell said he believed India was “probably the most important relationship for the United States to get right,” noting the huge Indian diaspora and the desire of most Indians to have a better relationship with the U.S.

“The hardest thing to remember is that India is also a great power. It has its own beliefs, its own interests. It will never be an official ally or partner to the United States, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have the strongest possible relationship as allied nations on the world stage,” he said.