There will be “consequences” to countries that “actively attempt to circumvent the sanctions” imposed on Russia, said United States Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh, the chief architect of the sanctions imposed on Russia. The comments by Singh came hours before Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Delhi.
The US top official, red-flagging the China-Russia relationship which both sides have termed as one with “no limits”, said that it had implications for India.
“No one should kid themselves — Russia is going to be the junior partner in this relationship with China. And the more leverage that China gains over Russia, the less favourable that is for India,” he said. “I don’t think anyone would believe that if China once again breached the Line of Actual Control, Russia would come running in India’s defence. And so that’s the context in which we really want the democracies across the world and specifically, the Quad to come together and voice your shared interests and your shared concerns about the developments in Ukraine and the implications.”
Singh met senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance and External Affairs ministries in Delhi. He also met Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal Wednesday. Singh is an Indian-American official and the brains behind the US sanctions against leading Russian figures including President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov along with top Russian officials and oligarchs.
Singh, stressing that “friends don’t set red lines”, said, “We are very keen for all countries, especially our allies and partners, not to create mechanisms that prop up the ruble and attempt to undermine the dollar-based financial system” to circumvent sanctions.
The US Deputy NSA, underlining that India “currently importing Russian energy doesn’t violate any of the sanctions”, said: “We would not like to see anyone taking advantage of the situation to rapidly increase energy supplies at cross purposes with our strategic objectives in the sanctions regime.”
When questioned if there could be consequences over specific transaction like the S-400, Singh answered diplomatically and said: “That’s the subject of private discussions, I am not going to share that…on specific transactions and hypotheticals, I’m going to leave those conversations private.”
“The intent of these sanctions is to change the strategic calculus to show unequivocally that if he continues to wage this needless, illegal, unprovoked war of aggression, it will be a strategic failure,” he said on sanctions.
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