Quad accepts India's position, says Australian envoy on Ukraine crisis
Categories: FOREIGN OR INDIAN NEWS
As India faces criticism from some countries in the West over New Delhi's position amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Australian high commissioner Barry O'Farrell has said "Quad countries have accepted India's position, each country has a bilateral relationship".Australia, along with India, Japan and the United States are members of the Quad group, a group which Beijing is very suspicious of. The high commissioner highlighted that "it's clear from the comments of MEA, PM that he has used his contacts to call for the end of the conflict and no country will be unhappy with that". Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin three times since the invasion that began on February 24.India has been calling for direct dialogue between the two countries and early cessation of violence. At the United Nations, India has abstained during various votes on Ukraine crisis and is currently in talks to get discounted Russian crude oil. The Australian stance comes even as Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday minced no words to condemn Russian invasion during his visit to Delhi. Meanwhile, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs of the United States Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Amanda Dory will be in Delhi from Monday.This is the first US govt official delegation to be in Delhi since Russian invasion and will hold talks on the with Indian side on number of issues including the Indo-Pacific.