US president Joe Biden has said only India among the Quad group of countries was “somewhat shaky” in acting against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, as India tries to balance its ties with Russia and the West.
While the other Quad countries – the US, Japan and Australia – have sanctioned Russian entities or people, India has not imposed sanction or even condemned Russia, its biggest supplier of military hardware.
“In response to his aggression, we have presented a united front throughout the NATO and in the Pacific,” Biden told a business forum on Monday (21), referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“The Quad – with the possible exception of India being somewhat shaky on some of these – but Japan has been extremely strong, so is Australia in terms of dealing with Putin’s aggression.”
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden (C) hosts a Quad Leaders Summit along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide in the East Room of the White House on September 24, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)
Putin says Russia is carrying out “a special military operation” to stop the Ukrainian government from committing “genocide” – an accusation the West calls a baseless fabrication.
After a virtual summit between Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, on Monday, India’s foreign ministry said Australia understood India’s position on Ukraine, which “reflected our own situation, our own considerations”.
India has urged an end to the violence in Ukraine but has abstained from voting against its old Cold War ally Russia.
Even though India has grown close to the US in recent years, it still depends on Russia for a continuous supply of arms and ammunition amid a Himalayan border standoff with China and perennial tension with Pakistan.
India is also considering buying more Russian oil at a discount, with two Indian state companies recently ordering 5 million barrels.
Indian analysts and government officials point out that European countries are buying gas from Russia.
(Reuters)
Army personnel stand amid the rubble following an explosion inside the police headquarters at Kohat in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18, 2026. An explosion at a historic police headquarters in northern Pakistan on September 18 killed at least eight people and wounded 35 more, officials said, with the country's president swiftly blaming a militant group. Getty Images
Mourners read the holy Quran while sitting around the grave of a paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) who was killed during the Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes, in Kohat on October 17, 2025. A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding on October 16, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.Getty Images
