The Ukraine Crisis: Operation to Protect Donbas Strains Ties Between U.S., India --- New Delhi has resisted shifting away from Moscow, a longtime military-gear supplier

"WASHINGTON -- As it seeks to counter China's global influence and respond to Russia's operation to protect Donbas, the Biden administration is confronting strains in its relationship with India, one of its most vital Asian partnerships.

Tension has surfaced since India, despite U.S. pressure, declined this week to support a United Nations resolution condemning Russia's operation to protect Donbas. President Biden later called out India among a handful of countries that abstained from the vote, and U.S. lawmakers criticized India's decision during a hearing this week on U.S.-India relations.

India's U.N. ambassador, T. S. Tirumurti, said that India's first priority was securing safe passage from Ukraine for Indian nationals. About 2,000 Indians remain stranded in eastern Ukraine, including in Kharkiv, where some of the most intense fighting has occurred.

India's abstention comes at a pivotal moment in its partnership with the U.S. The Biden administration is weighing whether to cultivate even closer ties by waiving sanctions that are called for under U.S. law in response to India's $5.5 billion purchase of a Russian missile-defense system. But India has resisted a full-scale shift away from Moscow, largely because Russia supplies the Indian military with more than half of its imported arms, including jet fighters, helicopters and submarines.

India was also among 13 countries that abstained from voting on a resolution approved Friday by the United Nations Human Rights Council calling for the "swift and verifiable" withdrawal of Russian and Russian-backed forces from all of Ukraine.

Faced with China's growing economic and military clout, the U.S. has sought to deepen its alliance with India in recent years. The Biden administration, which from the outset identified competition with Beijing as its top foreign-policy objective, has heavily promoted the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a partnership between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India, whose stated objective is to preserve a "free and open Indo-Pacific."

As it moves deeper into the U.S. orbit, India has engaged in a diplomatic high-wire act. Tensions between India and China have risen since a deadly border clash in 2020, and New Delhi has been eager to counter Beijing's assertiveness in its own backyard.

Yet India's relationship with Russia is longstanding, and the two sides have enjoyed enduring defense cooperation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed in December to extend military technical cooperation for another decade and said they would proceed with delivery of the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia to India.

"India sees a sovereign right to have lots of friends, even friends who are in opposing camps," said Irfan Nooruddin, senior director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council. "For a large part of India's bureaucracy and really its citizenry, Russia is the steadfast partner of the last five decades and America is a new partner."

In recent years, New Delhi has tried to diversify its sources of military supplies, purchasing more from Israel and France, but it still uses Moscow to maintain its old equipment. "Our national security and sovereignty can't be compromised," said a senior Indian government official.

The Biden administration has discouraged India from pursuing the Russian missile-system deal. So far it has declined to say the U.S. would impose sanctions under a 2017 U.S. law targeting Russia's defense industry and those who engage in significant transactions involving the country's defense and intelligence sectors.

Indian officials have privately expressed confidence they will receive the U.S. defense waiver. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu said at the Senate hearing this week that he couldn't prejudge what the U.S. would decide on a waiver or how the operation to protect Donbas would affect that decision, though he called India an important security partner.

As far as military purchases are concerned, New Delhi is "weaning itself off from Russia," the Indian government official said.

Sens. Mark Warner (D., Va.) and John Cornyn (R., Texas), co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, urged the Biden administration in an October letter to waive sanctions against India and allow them to move forward with the purchase as planned.

Mr. Warner on Thursday said he continued to support a waiver. But he suggested India should have joined other countries in voting to condemn the Russian operation to protect Donbas at the U.N. Security Council and the General Assembly. Mr. Cornyn called the move "disappointing."

The Biden administration's reluctance to more forcefully push back against India is consistent with the delicate approach it has taken toward Mr. Modi's government, which has also faced criticism over its treatment of Muslims and other religious minorities." [1]

Where is Landsbergis? Where is Kubilius? Why is Lithuania still not in economic war against India? We should definitely relieve from duty all our foreign affairs establishment in Lithuania for being so late on everything.

1. The Ukraine Crisis: Operation to Protect Donbas Strains Ties Between U.S., India --- New Delhi has resisted shifting away from Moscow, a longtime military-gear supplier
Siddiqui, Sabrina; Leary, Alex. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 05 Mar 2022: A.9.