Biden Urges Modi Not to Increase India’s Reliance on Russian Oil and Gas

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to not enhance his nation’s reliance on Russian oil and fuel, officers mentioned, a part of a world effort by the USA to keep up financial stress on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Biden additionally emphasised rising protection cooperation with India in a digital assembly with Mr. Modi — a line U.S. officers have more and more highlighted within the hopes of convincing New Delhi to return off the fence over Russia’s invasion.

Within the assembly between the 2 leaders, Mr. Biden supplied to assist Mr. Modi purchase oil and different vitality from different sources. The US and its allies have been working for months to deprive President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia of the monetary sources generated from the sale of oil and fuel around the globe.

However Mr. Biden stopped nicely wanting pressuring India to cease shopping for Russian oil, which quantities to about 1 p.c of its imports. And American officers mentioned the president didn’t ask India to sentence Russia by title for the brutal army marketing campaign towards its neighbor, a step that India has been unwilling to take because the starting of the invasion.

“The president made clear that he doesn’t imagine it’s in India’s curiosity to speed up or enhance imports of Russian vitality and different commodities,” Jen Psaki, the White Home press secretary, instructed reporters after the leaders’ assembly, which lasted about an hour.

On Monday, Mr. Modi once more declined to single out Russia by title whilst he condemned the obvious human rights abuses in Bucha, which the USA and others have mentioned are proof of struggle crimes.

“The information concerning the killings of harmless civilians within the Bucha metropolis was very worrying,” Mr. Modi mentioned in public remarks in the beginning of his assembly with Mr. Biden. He didn’t attribute the killings to Russia, however mentioned that “we immediately condemned the killings and have referred to as for an unbiased inquiry.”

India has lengthy been reliant on Russia for army {hardware}, an necessary issue within the deep historic ties between the 2 international locations. And so regardless of international condemnations of Russian aggression in Ukraine, Mr. Modi’s administration has tried to stay impartial — refraining from criticizing Russia, whereas calling for negotiations and fascinating Ukraine with humanitarian help.

Whereas American officers have been understanding of the complexity of India’s balancing act, seeing New Delhi as an necessary ally within the face of an assertive China, they’ve at instances expressed frustration that India’s stance is providing Mr. Putin some cowl. Some U.S. officers have warned of penalties if India expands commerce with Russia, particularly any enhance in buying oil, because the West tries to tighten sanctions.

India is emblematic of the problem dealing with Mr. Biden and different Western allies as they search to develop the coalition of countries keen to punish Mr. Putin for his actions. The president has mentioned international unity behind financial sanctions is the important thing to forcing the Russian chief to desert what Mr. Biden calls his “struggle of alternative” in Ukraine.

However whereas the USA has had success rallying greater than 50 nations, together with a lot of Europe, behind that technique, India and different international locations around the globe have held again. India abstained when the United Nations voted to sentence the invasion in March, and once more when the U.N. ejected Russia from the group’s Human Rights Council.

That was not a shock to Biden administration officers, in line with longtime observers of India’s relations with different international locations. Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow on the Brookings Establishment, mentioned the assembly on Monday underscored the cautious American method to relations with India over the previous a number of a long time.

“They perceive that forcing India to select isn’t more likely to be efficient and would possibly even be counterproductive,” she mentioned. “And so, I believe I’ve seen them speak about enabling India to make decisions relatively than forcing India to make decisions. And they also don’t speak about it publicly as selecting camps.”

That frustrates some inside and outdoors the administration, who imagine that India, the world’s largest democracy, and different international locations must be extra assertive in defending the rules of nationwide borders.

And India’s willpower to remain impartial in a battle that’s roiling Europe and far of the remainder of the world is more likely to be an irritant within the group often called the Quad — the USA, Australia, Japan and India — whose different nations have firmly condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Derek Grossman, a senior protection analyst on the RAND Company, mentioned the difficulty highlighted the variations among the many 4 nations even because the group professes to return collectively round a set of widespread values.

“The Quad is absolutely about sustaining a rules-based order, and one sovereign nation, in Russia, invading and destroying one other sovereign nation, in Ukraine, is totally opposite to a rules-based order,” he mentioned. “And so, that’s going make future Quad conferences — and we’re going to see them later this 12 months — a bit awkward and a bit chilly.”

However each Mr. Grossman and Ms. Madan praised Mr. Biden and his administration for making an attempt to deal delicately with India. Ms. Madan mentioned there was little to be gained for the USA to attempt to exert an excessive amount of stress on international locations which have their very own home realities.

“You wish to attempt to appeal to as many individuals to your positions,” she mentioned, “but additionally recognizing that there will likely be a gaggle of nations that won’t essentially be as like-minded as you.”

“The following smartest thing is to attempt to proceed your efforts to form of align them with you,” she added, “but when not, preserve them nonaligned.”

As a part of that effort, Mr. Biden on Monday echoed sentiments that different U.S. officers have expressed in current weeks in makes an attempt to reassure India that its supply of army {hardware} wouldn’t run dry if it took a firmer stance towards Russia.

“We share a powerful and rising main protection partnership,” the president mentioned in his opening remarks, earlier than the protection and international ministers of each international locations sat for prolonged dialogue. “The US and India will proceed our shut consultations on the way to handle the destabilizing results of this Russian struggle.”

India’s protection purchases from the USA have elevated over the previous decade to about $20 billion. However analysts have mentioned increasing the ties to the purpose the place India’s dependency on Russian army {hardware} would wane would take time. That will require overcoming deeply rooted hesitancy within the relationship between the USA and India that dates again a long time.

In his remarks, Mr. Modi continued India’s delicate line on Ukraine — expressing concern concerning the struggling brought on by the struggle however refraining from calling out Russia because the aggressor.

“Our talks at the moment are happening at a time when the state of affairs in Ukraine could be very worrying,” Mr. Modi mentioned. “Throughout this complete course of I spoke a number of instances to the presidents of each Ukraine and Russia. I not solely appealed for peace, but additionally advised there be direct talks between President Putin and the president of Ukraine.”

Michael D. Shear reported from Washington, and Mujib Mashal from Kathmandu, Nepal.