By India Today World Desk: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putin might have already used nuclear weapons on Ukraine, to end the war, if not for India and China.
Blinken, ahead of his visit to India for the G20 summit, credited India and China for having “a little bit more influence with Russia these days” in opposing the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
In an interview to The Atlantic, Blinken said, "Putin might react more, even more irrationally, and there was language coming out of Moscow that suggested that he would look to the use of tactical nuclear weapons. It was a concern."
"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 [Vladimir Putin] 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," he added.
Antony Blinken also acknowledged that India and Russia have a decades-long relationship, but things are moving favourably between India and the US now too.
"India for decades had Russia at the core providing military equipment to it and its defenses, but what we’ve seen over the last few years is a trajectory away from relying on Russia and moving into partnership with us and with other countries like France," he said in the interview with The Atlantic.
INDIA AND CHINA'S NEUTRAL STANCE
India and China abstained from voting on ending the Ukraine war in the 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the conflict. While 141 members voted in favour of the resolution, seven opposed it. India and China were among the 32 members that abstained.
Both India and China have so far taken a neutral stance, calling for dialogue and peaceful negotiations to end the Ukraine war that has entered its second year.
"India remains steadfastly committed to multilateralism and upholds the principles of the UN Charter. We will always call for dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable way out. While we take note of the stated objective of today's Resolution, given its inherent limitations in reaching our desired goal of securing lasting peace, we are constrained to abstain," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj told the UN.
Kamboj said that India's approach to the Ukraine conflict will continue to be people-centric and reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that this cannot be an era of war.
No comments:
Post a Comment