Significantly, Singh’s meetings with Indian officials took place just hours before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov landed in Delhi.
“I come here in a spirit of friendship to explain the mechanisms of our sanctions, the importance of joining us to express shared resolve and to advance shared interests. And yes, there are consequences to countries that actively attempt to circumvent or backfill these sanctions”, he reportedly remarked.
The response was to a question about Indian companies deciding to buy discounted Russian crude offered by Moscow.
“No one should kid themselves – Russia is going to be the junior partner in this relationship with China. And the more leverage that China gains over Russia, the less favourable that is for India”, he remarked.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a veteran Indian MP and prominent lawyer, has questioned if the US ever came forward to help Delhi in the past when the PLA “breached the LAC”.
“China has been waging border aggression against India for 23 months by breaching the LAC, but Biden refuses to open his mouth on that issue”, Chellaney remarked.
“US Deputy NSA Daleep Singh's public remarks in Delhi may earn him brownie points in Washington but here it is being seen as a wrong move. Hectoring public remarks are a sure way of queering the pitch in bilateral ties. Maybe this is for public consumption”, he remarked.
While India has maintained a neutral stance on the crisis in Ukraine and abstained from voting at a United Nations (UN) resolution that dubbed Moscow as the “aggressor”, the government at the same time has called for respecting the UN Charter.
The Indian political leadership has said that the “territorial integrity” of all countries must be upheld.
“Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point", Zelensky said in an interview this week.