Modi-Biden meeting: India not to change tune on Russia-Ukraine conflict

A source aware of New Delhi’s preparation for the Modi-Biden meeting ruled out the possibility of any change in India’s approach.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to go beyond reiterating his “today’s-era-not-an-era-of-war” refrain on the Russia-Ukraine conflict during his meeting with President Joe Biden in Washington DC next week, notwithstanding the move by the United States to make India less dependent on the former Soviet Union nation for defence supplies.

While Biden may raise the issue of the Russia-Ukraine war during his talks with Modi at the White House on June 22, the prime minister is likely to convey to the US president New Delhi’s position that dialogue and diplomacy were the only way to resolve the conflict. A source aware of New Delhi’s preparation for the Modi-Biden meeting in Washington DC ruled out the possibility of any change in India’s approach on the issue of Russia’s “special military operations” in Ukraine during the prime minister’s state visit to the US.

Modi, however, would highlight the economic and humanitarian implications of the Russia-Ukraine war, particularly on the countries in the ‘Global South’, said the source, adding that the prime minister might also pledge his and his government’s support to any initiative to resolve the conflict.

Ever since Russia launched its “special military operations” in Ukraine on February 24 last year, India has been drawing flak for not joining the United States and other Western nations in condemning the former Soviet Union nation for its aggression against the East European country.

New Delhi has refrained from criticising Moscow, apparently in view of India’s deep Cold War era ties with Russia. India also took into account its decades-old dependence on Russia for defence equipment, including high-tech military hardware.

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While New Delhi has been maintaining the strategic balance in its ties with Moscow and Washington DC over the past couple of decades, Modi’s meeting with Biden in the White House next week is expected to add new momentum to the India-US ties, particularly in the fields of defence as well as critical and emerging technologies.

New Delhi has been repeatedly pointing out over the past few months that India had to rely more on Russia only because the US and the other Western nations had in the past declined to share with it advanced military hardware and critical technologies. The Modi Government had put forward the argument in response to criticism over its refusal to join the US and the rest of the West in criticising Russia for its military aggression against Ukraine.

This prompted the Biden Administration to start a process to remove barriers to expand cooperation with India in the field of advanced technologies, including in the areas of defence, space, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductors and telecommunications.

The Biden Administration’s moves are apparently intended to make India find in the US a credible alternative to Russia, especially in the field of advanced defence technologies.

The source said that while New Delhi welcomed the Biden Administration’s moves to open the door for US-India cooperation in critical and emerging technologies, it would not have any impact on the strategic autonomy of the nation.