United States (US) Secretary of State Antony J Blinken, who will visit New Delhi on March 1 for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, has said that he had asked India and China to speak to Russia last year when there were concerns about Moscow’s use of tactical nuclear weapons to convey their “absolute opposition to the use of nuclear weapons”. Both Delhi and Beijing conveyed the message to Moscow , Blinken said, and it had some effect.
Blinken also offered an understanding of India’s position on the war in Ukraine, pointing to Delhi’s decades-old relationship with Moscow, including in defence, and said that a shift in ties wasn’t like “flipping a switch” but “moving an aircraft”.
In an interview to The Atlantic magazine on Thursday, when asked about the possibility of an escalation in Ukraine and America’s worries about what Russian President Vladimir Putin may do, Blinken said that supporting Ukraine, but ensuring that the conflict does not become wider or create a conflagration, has been President Joe Biden’s top priority. He claimed that Putin himself did not seek an escalation of the war that would directly involve the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation because “he is struggling mightily” in Ukraine itself.
It was then that Blinken referred to an episode from last year that involved India. After a Ukrainian counteroffensive had some success last spring, Blinken said, there was some concern that Putin might react “even more irrationally”, and referred to language coming out of Moscow that suggested that Putin would look to the use of “tactical nuclear weapons”.
“But what we did in that case was to not only message him very directly…but we urged, and I think successfully, other countries that might have a little bit more influence with Russia these days – like China, but also other countries like India – to engage him directly about their absolute opposition to any use of nuclear weapons. And we know that they conveyed those messages, and I think that had some effect.”
To a separate question on how many countries have chosen to “stay on the sidelines” in the war, and whether countries such as India are behaving in a way reminiscent of the non-aligned bloc during the Cold War, Blinken offered a measured assessment. He cited the overwhelming mood in the United Nations against the war and then distinguished the nature of support being offered to Ukraine from the military to the humanitarian. And then Blinken dived into the history, bringing in India.
“There are countries that have longstanding, decades-long relationships with Russia – with the Soviet Union before – that are challenging to break off in one fell swoop. It’s not flipping a light switch; it’s moving an aircraft carrier.”
Blinken said that for decades, India had Russia “at the core providing military equipment to it and its defenses”. “But what we have seen over the last few years is a trajectory away from relying on Russia and moving into partnership with us and with other countries, France and so forth. But you can’t do that, again, by flipping a light switch.” He also cited South Africa’s case, which had a historical relationship with Soviet Union due to Moscow’s opposition to apartheid, and acknowledged that the US was “unfortunately…much too sympathetic” to the apartheid regime.
Blinken added that this history could not be erased and it was a process, adding, “And one last thing: Some countries are doing this quietly, not advertising. That’s okay as long as it gets there.”
Blinken’s comments come ahead of his visit to Delhi for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting: this will be the second visit by the secretary of the state during the Biden administration.
In a statement announcing Blinken’s visit, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the foreign ministers meeting will “focus on strengthening multilateralism and deepening cooperation on food and energy security, sustainable development, counter-narcotics, global health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and gender equality and women’s empowerment”. Blinken is also scheduled to meet with India’s political leadership and civil society.
