US warns India of significant costs from Russia alignment

The United States has expressed dissatisfaction with some of New Delhi's reactions to the Ukraine invasion, according to a top US economic adviser.

According to a Bloomberg report, the Biden administration has warned India against aligning itself with Russia.

"There are certainly areas where we have been disappointed by both China and India's decisions, in the context of the invasion," the director of the White House National Economic Council, Brian Deese, told reporters at a breakfast on Wednesday hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Brian Deese's comments come after Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh travelled to India last week for meetings with officials.

India's Ministry of External Affairs didn't respond to a message seeking comment sent after normal business hours.

Although India is considered an important partner in countering Chinese influence in Asia, New Delhi's reaction to the Russia-Ukraine conflict has complicated its relationship with Washington.

Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, "What Daleep did make clear to his counterparts during this visit was that we don't believe it's in India's interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities."

India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday again underlined the importance of New Delhi's ties with Moscow.

Russia is an "important partner in a variety of areas," the minister told parliament. "Like all other countries, we too are assessing the implications" of Russia's war in Ukraine and "deciding what is best for our national interest."

The US and the rest of the Group of Seven nations will continue to collaborate with India and hope that they can align efforts to the greatest extent possible, a US official said in a briefing for reporters Wednesday on new sanctions against Russia. 

The official asked not to be identified as a condition of the briefing.

In addition to seeking Russian oil, India is the world's largest buyer of Russian weapons. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resisted entreaties from the US and Australia to scale back the relationship, insisting that India needs Russian weapons to counter both Pakistan and China and that alternatives are too expensive, according to people familiar with the matter.