RUSSIA-UKRAINE
Daleep Singh warns India of ‘consequences’.
There will be “consequences” for any country, including India, that conducts local currency transactions through Russia’s central bank or constructs a payment mechanism that subverts or circumvents the United States’ sanctions against Russia, American Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh said in New Delhi on Thursday, hours before Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov landed. Mr. Lavrov is due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday, and is expected to brief them on the war in Ukraine, peace talks, keeping defence supplies running and alternate payment mechanisms in the face of Western sanctions.
In a first for the U.S. administration, Mr. Singh also publicly stated that India must not expect that Russia, as a “junior partner” of China, would assist India if there were more incursions along the Line of Actual Control.
I come here in a spirit of friendship to explain the mechanisms of our sanctions, the importance of joining us, to express a shared resolve and to advance shared interests. And yes, there are consequences to countries that actively attempt to circumvent or backfill the sanctions,” Mr. Singh told journalists between his official meetings.
