WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a virtual meeting on Monday ahead of the 2+2 bilateral engagement between the top foreign policy and defence officials of the two countries, the White House announced on Sunday.
The two sides will discuss the familiar basket of issues, including strengthening the global economy and security in the Indo-Pacific, the White House said, but added that President Biden “will continue our close consultations on the consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilizing impact on global food supply and commodity markets.”
There is daylight between the two sides on the Russia-Ukraine issue, with New Delhi consistently rejecting US pressure to throw its lot with the US-led NATO alliance. India has abstained from ten UN votes relating to the issue even as it had been implicitly critical of the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the get-go, while at the same time disapproving NATO’s eastward push.
Biden last spoke to Modi with other Quad Leaders in March at a meeting in which India resisted US efforts to put the Russia-Ukraine issue on the agenda. Soon after, the US President described India’s stand on the issue as “somewhat shaky.”