NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday credited India and China with possibly stalling a potential use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine. In an interview with The Atlantic on the first anniversary of the Ukraine war, Blinken said both nations had “a little bit more influence with Russia these days”. He indicated that India and China may have told Russian President Vladimir Putin directly that they opposed any use of nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil.
“There was language coming out of Moscow that suggested that he would look to the use of tactical nuclear weapons. But we urged, I think successfully, that other countries might have a little bit more influence with Russia like India and China to engage him directly about their absolute opposition to any use of nuclear weapons,’’ he said.
“And we know that they conveyed those messages, and I think that had some effect. Something we always have to look at, but again, the track record to date suggests that the escalation that some feared has, at least to now, not happened,” Blinken said.
He added that India was on a trajectory away from alignment with Russia and moving into partnership with the US and other countries. Blinken confirmed he will visit India for a meeting of the G20 foreign ministers in March. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov will participate in the meeting.