The bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin during the former’s recent visit to Moscow has reportedly irked several senior officials of the Joe Biden-led US administration, a report by Bloomberg stated.
During his two-day visit, PM Modi described Russia as India’s “all-weather friend” and expressed special appreciation for “his friend” Putin. The Prime Minister, who was conferred Russia’s highest civilian award, commended Putin for steering the India-Russia friendship to greater heights over the last two decades.
The Bloomberg report stated that senior US officials were frustrated with the timing of PM Modi’s Russia visit and the hug shared by Putin in the middle of the NATO Summit — which began on July 9 and concluded on July 11. Talks about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remained the hotbed topic of the summit kicked off by Biden.
US officials have expressed concerns that PM Modi’s first visit to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine has sparked criticism from both within and outside the American government regarding closer US-India ties.
The report added that US officials had acknowledged that the visit was “difficult and uncomfortable” for the Biden administration, which had conveyed to New Delhi that the timing would complicate the ‘optics’ for Washington.
“Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell spoke with Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra in early July hoping that the Modi-Putin encounter might be rescheduled to avoid coinciding with the NATO Summit,” the report added.
Even the US Ambassador Eric Garcetti, while addressing a press conference in New Delhi earlier in the day, indirectly criticised the PM Modi-Putin meeting, saying that India should not take the US’s friendship “for granted”.
Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan cautioned New Delhi that a “bet on Russia as a long-term, reliable partner is not a good bet” and Moscow would side with Beijing over New Delhi in case of a conflict.
“We’ve made clear to every country in the world, including India, that a bet on Russia as a long-term, reliable partner is not a good bet,” Sullivan said.
“Russia is becoming closer to China. In fact, it’s becoming the junior partner to China. And in that way, they would side with China over India any day of the week. And, Prime Minister Modi, of course, has profound concerns about the potential for Chinese aggression against India. Which we have seen over recent years,” he added.
India has been stoutly defending its “special and privileged strategic partnership” with Russia and maintained the momentum in the ties notwithstanding the Ukraine conflict.
Notably, New Delhi has not yet condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has consistently pitched for a resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.