US wants world community to condemn Russian action in Ukraine

As the Obama Administration intensified its global effort to garner support for Ukraine, the White House said it is looking at the international community, including India, to condemn Russia’s action.

Over the past few weeks, the top American leadership, including President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, has been reaching out to its friends, allies and key global players against the Russian action in the Crimean region of Ukraine.

Even as Russian President Vladimir Putin called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain his position on Ukraine, US officials would not tell the level of its outreach with India; with whom the Obama Administration is building strategic partnership.

But White House officials did indicate that the US wants India to condemn the Russian military action in Crimea.

“We have been consulting closely with our partners and allies in Europe and the G7 on Ukraine but also with other nations around the world. I don’t have any specific conversations to read out for you with India, but obviously we are looking to the entire international community to condemn Russia’s action and to support Ukraine,” Laura Lucas Magnuson, spokesperson of the National Security Council, told PTI.

Tanvi Madan, a fellow in the Foreign Policy programme at the prestigious Brookings Institution (a US think-tank), and director of the new India Project, said the US might have preferred a more active Indian voice emphasising respect for territorial integrity, but India’s overall reticence couldn’t have been surprising for anyone who knows India.

“India also refrained from publicly criticising the approach of the US and European Union before the developments in Crimea, which it was not too pleased about either. India’s stance will disappoint some who would like to see India side more explicitly with the west.

“But though many would hope that India would be on the same page as the US on many issues, this administration has stated in the past that it doesn’t always expect India to agree with it,” Madan said.

Russian President Putin added Crimea to the map of Russia, describing the move as correcting past injustice and responding to what he called Western encroachment upon his country’s vital interests.