Washington: During the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, America’s views have started changing regarding India’s stand. During a press conference, the US said that India has decades-old relations with Russia, so it will take a long time for India to remove the tilt toward Russia in its foreign policy. The US said it is working “very closely” with India through the Quad and other fora. America has made a big change in its stance regarding Russia-India relations over time. The US said that countries with old ties with Russia will take a long time to change their foreign policy again. Let us tell you that like other countries, America had also tried to put pressure on India regarding India’s relations with Russia in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine war. But India was not ready to bow anywhere and keeping in mind the interest of the country, it is buying cheap oil from Russia.
“It’s not my job to talk about the foreign policy of any other country,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters here when asked about India’s purchase of Russian oil, fertilizers, and possibly Russian defense systems. He said, “But I can talk about what we have heard from India. We have seen countries all over the world speak frankly against Russia’s attack on Ukraine, including their vote in the United Nations General Assembly. We understand this too and as I said a while back it is not like pressing the power button.
It will take time to change India’s stand on Russia
In response to a question, he said, “This problem is especially with those countries which have historical relations with Russia. As in the case of India, its relations go back decades. It will take a long time for India to remove the tilt toward Russia in its foreign policy. Despite criticism from Western countries, India has increased oil imports from Russia after the Ukraine war and continues to trade with it.
Russia overtakes Saudi Arabia in oil supply
Russia overtook Saudi Arabia to become India’s second-largest crude oil supplier in May. Iraq is the largest oil supplier to India. Indian oil companies imported 25 million barrels of oil from Russia in May. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that the US and other countries of the world may not appreciate India’s decision to buy oil from Russia, but they have accepted it, as New Delhi has never defended its stand, but Made them realize what the government’s responsibility to its people was in the face of “unreasonably high” oil and gas prices.
America gave this answer regarding military exercise
In India in October 2018 signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defense missile system. “Countries routinely make their own sovereign decisions,” Price said while answering questions related to multilateral joint military exercises involving Russia and China and several other countries, including India. It is their absolute right to decide which military exercises they have to participate in. I will also mention that most of the participating countries in this exercise have regular military exercises with the US as well.
