US values bilateral ties with India, says White House; calls New Delhi ‘key strategic partner in Indo-Pacific’

Washington DC, June 22: Calling India a “very key” strategic partner of the US in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region, Washington has said it values its bilateral relationship with New Delhi. The White House further said that in the context of Russia every country has to make its decision.

 

 

“We will let Indian leaders speak to their economic policies,” White House Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the Indian decision to purchase discounted oil from Russia.

 

“What I can just tell you is we value this bilateral relationship with India and we continue to want — obviously, every country has to make their decisions for themselves,” he said. 

 

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“These are sovereign decisions. But we want as much pressure put internationally on Russia as possible. There need to be costs and consequences for what Mr (Vladimir) Putin is doing,” Kirby said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

 

The US-led Western nations have imposed crippling sanctions on Russia for launching a ‘special military operation’ in neighboring Ukraine. Russia has become India’s second-biggest supplier of oil and Indian refiners bought about 25 million barrels of Russian oil in May.

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