WASHINGTON: America needs to show some strategic patience with India on its ties with Russia, a former US defence secretary has said, asserting that New Delhi does not support Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
Former Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said the defence ties between India and the US have strengthened and grown significantly. "We need to show some patience. They (Indians) are moving in the right direction," he said on Wednesday.
Mattis' remarks came at the first-of-its-kind India-US summit organised by Congressman Ro Khanna in his capacity as the Co-Chair of the Congressional India Caucus.
Noting that India has maintained its strategic independence, he said the Indian government does not support the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been very blunt about that, he said.
"India must keep growing its economy. The alternative is societal unrest, a weaker India," he said.
"The last thing India wants to do...to push Russia and China closer together," he said, adding that India being closer to Russia right now is not bad for America.
Unlike its Quad partner countries, India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it abstained from the votes at the UN platforms on the Russian aggression.
India has been pressing for an immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine and seeking a resolution of the crisis through diplomacy and dialogue.
India is coming off the Russian sphere of influence.
This is not a time to lecture India, but there is an opportunity to work with the country, which is in a tough neighbourhood, Mattis said.
On the one hand, it has a radicalised, nuclear weapon Pakistan as a neighbour, and on the other hand, it has China which is trying to bully it, he said.
He called for the continuation and enabling of the collaboration between US technology and scientists and demanded that obstacles to their movement be removed.
"The National Security Council is leading an effort right now I know on critical and emerging technologies...This is really where we need to go and where we have the opportunity to go and there are some things we can do to really ease the challenges. And collectively, this is what gives us a firm foundation," he said.