Joe Biden and Narendra Modi to hold virtual talks as US presses for hard line on Russia over Ukraine
- India abstained when the UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council
- India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
US President Joe Biden is set to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as he presses world leaders to take a hard line against Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
India’s neutral stance in the war has raised concerns in Washington and earned praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who lauded India this month for judging “the situation in its entirety, not just in a one-sided way.”
Most recently, India abstained when the UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council over allegations that Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the US and Ukraine have called war crimes.
The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.
In the virtual meeting, Biden will talk about the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine “and mitigating its destabilising impact on global food supply and commodity markets,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Sunday.