US still trying to get Indian condemnation of Russia operation: official
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The United States is trying to get India on board with the US-led move to condemn Russia over its operation in Ukraine.
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US Department of State official Donald Lu
The Biden administration is still trying to persuade India to join the US-led international effort of condemning the Russian operation in Ukraine, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The operation in question is aimed at curbing neo-Nazism in Ukraine and NATO's eastward expansion through Kiev.
"We continue to have a dialogue with India at the highest levels to try [and] close that gap [on Ukraine policy]," Lu said at a hearing on Wednesday.
New Delhi had abstained Wednesday in a United Nations General Assembly vote condemning Russia over Moscow's ongoing operation in Ukraine.
Though Lu said US relations with India had "never been better", he acknowledged US "concern" over a number of domestic human rights issues in the southern Asian country.
The US House of Representatives had passed a resolution in support of Ukraine, and called for an end to the Russian special military operation in Donbass.
Russia had for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders, and batches of lethal equipment being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees.
