US Ambassador Eric Garcetti expressed concerns regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Russia, particularly in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Garcetti argued that concepts like “strategic autonomy” should not hinder international cooperation during crises, suggesting India could leverage its relationship with Russia to influence a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
While addressing an event held at the United Service Institution of India, Garcetti compared the Ukraine crisis with India’s border issue with China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
“I know…and I respect that India likes its strategic autonomy. But in times of conflict, there is no such thing as strategic autonomy. We will, in crisis moments, need to know each other. I don’t care what title we put to it, but we will need to know that we are trusted friends, brothers and sisters, colleagues…,” Garcetti said.
Nudging India for a more direct response to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, Garcetti said, “No war is distant anymore and we must not just stand for peace, we must take concrete actions to make sure those who don’t play by peaceful rules, that their war machines cannot continue unabated.”
Garcetti also compared PM Modi’s visit to Russia with his US visit last year.
“We can read leaders’ agreements, as we might have done this week…look through the ones that are kind of dressed up versus the ones that have to be edited down. I was told when we had the prime minister’s visit, that a state visit that has five to 10 deliverables is a very strong visit. At our peak, we had 173 separate deliverables, that the US and India were working on together,” he said.