A virtual summit will be held on Thursday between US President Joe Biden and the Japanese, Indian and Australian leaders of the QUAD alliance, New Delhi announced.
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The statement from the Indian Foreign Ministry comes a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the second time since Russia invaded Ukraine last week.
The United States has called on New Delhi to leverage its “influence” with Moscow.
The purpose of the QUAD summit, organized a week after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, was not specified by the press release from the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which merely indicates that Joe Biden and the First Japanese ministers Fumio Kishida, Australian Scott Morrison and Indian Narendra Modi “will exchange views” on “important developments in the Indo-Pacific region”.
The QUAD (Quadrilateral security dialogue), an informal strategic alliance between the United States, Australia, Japan and India initiated in 2007, was relaunched in 2017 to counter Chinese influence.
India and many countries in the region fear that because of the Ukrainian crisis, Washington will lose interest in Asia-Pacific.
This summit could also be an opportunity for other leaders to pressure India’s prime minister to take a clearer stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
New Delhi and Moscow were close throughout the Cold War, a relationship that continues to this day, and Russia remains India’s top arms supplier.
New Delhi urged Russia and Ukraine to cease hostilities, but did not condemn the invasion.
On Wednesday, she once again abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution demanding “that Russia immediately cease the use of force against Ukraine”, despite strong pressure from the United States.
The statement said the four leaders would “review ongoing efforts to implement the leaders’ initiatives announced under the QUAD agenda.”