Biden administration’s key architect for Russian sanctions, Indian-American Daleep Singh, had a constructive dialogue with India in his last visit to New Delhi, and did not issue any warning. Some of Singh's comments on his visit to India were criticised. Singh, in an interaction with reporters, had cautioned India against expecting Russia to come to the country’s defence if China were to violate the Line of Actual Control as the two countries are now in a “no limits partnership”. Indian-American community leaders had dubbed those comments abrasive.
“I wouldn't characterise it as a warning,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news briefing in reply to a question on Singh’s recent India visit.
Singh, Deputy National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden, is considered to be the architect of economic sanctions against Russia in its war against Ukraine.
“He [Singh] went and had a constructive conversation and made clear that while it's the decision of each individual country, including India, to determine whether they're going to import Russian oil, it is only one to two per cent of their imports, About 10 per cent of their imports is from the United States,” Psaki said. “He conveyed, of course, they should abide by sanctions which are not related to that decision. But also we would be here to help them diversify and move towards even reducing further beyond the one to two per cent,” Psaki said in response.
-Inputs from agencies
