US Deputy Secretary Nuland Urges India to Join Condemnation of Russia's Op in Ukraine

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - India should join other democracies in condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told NDTV.

"Democracies need to stand together and evolve their position vis-a-vis Russia because of the choices [President Vladimir] Putin has made. Democracies must stand against autocracies like Russia and China," Nuland said in an interview during her visit to India.

Washington can help as New Delhi "continues to evolve its position," according to Nuland.

"We know about the historic relationship and defence relationship between India and Russia at a time when the US was not prepared to have that kind of relationship. But times have changed now. They've changed in terms of the US and European willingness to be strong defence and security partners with India. We are doing more and more together in the Indo-Pacific. But times have also changed in terms of the level of brutality and violation of international humanitarian law that we are seeing," Nuland said.

She added that the US had talked about other opportunities for India "to get what it needs including Soviet-era equipment potentially not from Russia itself."

"We have been supporting the sourcing of security needs for Ukraine along with our allies including Soviet-era equipment and those are the kind of things we can do with India as it continues to evolve its position," she explained.

On 24 February, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine responding to calls for help from the Donbass republics in defending themselves against the aggression of Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defence Ministry said the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only, but later accused Ukrainian forces of using typical terrorist methods, such as hiding behind civilians and positioning weapons systems in civilian areas.

The US and its allies have responded with a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow.