US heartened by Prime Minister Modi’s feedback to Putin final weekend; says Pentagon official

Prime Minister Modi had met President Putin in Uzbekistan metropolis Samarkand on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, which concluded final week, and in the course of the assembly Modi informed the Russian president, “Today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.” On his half, Putin informed Modi that he was conscious of India’s issues over the Ukraine battle and that Russia will do the whole lot potential to finish it as quickly as potential.

The US has stated that it’s heartened by the feedback made by Prime Minister Modi.

“We were heartened by Prime Minister Modi’s comments last weekend,” Dr Ely Ratner, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs informed a bunch of reporters and think-tank consultants throughout a digital spherical desk.

Recently, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan additionally informed reporters at a White House information convention that what the prime minister stated was “a statement of principle on behalf of what he believes is right and just (and) it was very much welcomed by the US.” Ratner stated that US shares India’s dedication to seeing a swift and peaceable decision of the battle and proceed to interact commonly on this subject.

“We obviously recognise that India has a long and complicated history in terms of its security partnership with Russia and has been in the process over the last many years of diversifying its arms and imports as well as prioritising its own indigenous development, and we want to support them,” Ratner stated.

“We want to support India on both fronts and are doing so. We think the trend lines are heading in the right direction. We are deeply engaged in conversations on exploring opportunities for co-development and coproduction. We are also looking for ways to support India’s own indigenisation which we know is a huge priority for Prime Minister Modi and in the military there,” stated the senior Pentagon official.

Responding to a different query, he stated the US is taking a tough have a look at the co-development and coproduction below Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI).

“We are taking a hard look now at DTTI more broadly and actively discussing with the Indian government how we can adapt the initiative to meet the scope and ambition of our defense partnership. This is an area where we see a lot of great promise. Our leaders are fairly focused on this and again the Two Plus Two ministerial next spring are hoping to have some progress to announce on this front,” he stated.

Responding to a different query, Ratner stated that current US motion with Pakistan on F -6 shouldn’t be designed as a message to India because it pertains to its relationship with Russia.

“The decision inside the US government around the F-16 issue was made predicated on US interests associated with our defense partnership with Pakistan which is primarily focused on counterterrorism and nuclear security and as the (Defense) Secretary made clear to (Defense) Minister Rajnath) Singh during their call last week, this case did not include any upgrades or munitions,” he stated.

“We have been engaging with our Indian counterparts, both in advance of the announcement to preview it and during my visit with Assistant Secretary Lew in Delhi as well. So we thought it was quite important to be as transparent as we could with Indian counterparts both in advance and during that decision and it provided a good opportunity to have a healthy exchange on both the US rationale for its limited security partnership with Pakistan as well as a good opportunity to hear India’s concerns about that,” Ratner stated.