Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join a virtual meeting of the Quad bloc today with US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Japan counterpart Fumio Kishida.
The leaders last met in September 2021 at Washington DC. A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said the virtual summit will provide them with an opportunity to continue their dialogue and they will exchange views about important developments in the Indo-Pacific.
Significantly, the virtual summit is taking place against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While India has chosen to abstain from votes in the United Nations against Russia, the three other members of Quad have backed Ukraine.
While the US leads the international community in bringing crippling sanctions against the Vladimir Putin-led regime, Australia has called for Russia to be treated as a “pariah state” and reached out to provide aid to Ukraine as it puts up a defiant stand against the superpower. Japan, too, has imposed sanctions on Russian entities and offered to take in Ukrainians fleeing from war.
India has had a long-standing relationship with Russia and its ties with the US have strengthened over the past significantly over the past few years. Against the backdrop of Chinese aggression on its borders, India is walking a tightrope in its equations with Washington DC and Moscow.