Ukraine war: Why the Quad's OK with India, not China, giving Russia economic support

As the US, Japan and Australia harden their stance on Russia for waging war on Ukraine, the fourth member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue continues to be the odd one out.

India has not only refused to condemn its long-time defence partner for invading a sovereign nation - choosing instead to support calls for a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution while delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine - it is also forging ahead with fresh purchases of discounted Russian crude oil.

When China made a similar move by announcing last month that it was open to Russian wheat imports, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison later accused Beijing of throwing Moscow an "economic lifeline."

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Yet no such criticism has been directed at India by its Quad partners for continuing to work with Russia. In recent days, both Japan and Australia did press New Delhi to take a tougher line against Moscow - but the United States, which has banned all Russian oil imports, said it understood India's "economic reasoning" for not doing likewise.

Analysts said this apparent double standard was more nuanced than it first appeared - stemming from a desire to preserve India's position in the regional security framework, and prevent Moscow "drifting" further towards Beijing.

Russia accounts for less than 3 per cent of India's oil imports, most of which come from the Middle East. Delhi is heavily dependent on Moscow for weaponry, however - importing around 60 per cent of its arms from Russia, which it also relies on for maintenance and spare parts.

Earlier this month, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India was in discussions to purchase discounted oil from Russia, amid soaring benchmark prices and a domestic economy that is struggling to recover from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

US Representative Ami Bera, who heads the House Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on Asia and is Indian-American himself, criticised the move as Delhi "choosing to side with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin at a pivotal moment in history", saying in a statement last week that India was "reportedly looking to bypass international sanctions"and was "potentially giving Putin an economic lifeline"

That same day, however, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a daily briefing that India would not be in violation of US sanctions if it purchased discounted Russian oil. When asked again on Friday for a response to India's reported purchases, Psaki said Washington recognised that not all countries were following the US in banning Russian oil - "including some in Europe" - and that "they have different economic reasoning" for doing so.

"If the US cannot stop the Europeans from buying oil and gas from Russia, it's unfair to ask India to do so," said Yogesh Joshi, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore's Institute of South Asian Studies.

Further pushing the issue "will create an unnecessary rift in the Quad and the Indo-US strategic relationship," he said, adding: "China is the fundamental focus of growing Indo-US strategic partnership and it will continue to bind the ties between the two countries."

On Saturday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pressed his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to take a tougher stance on the war in Ukraine, saying it had shaken the "foundation of international order" and required a clear response. But a joint statement issued afterwards called only for "an immediate cessation of violence" and "emphasised the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes".

Australia's Morrison at a virtual summit with Modi on Monday underlined "the importance to hold Russia to account" for the war, adding that "the cooperation of like-minded liberal democracies is key to an open, inclusive, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific."

Again, the Indian PM did not comment on Russia's invasion of its neighbour, but Modi's foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla later said that Morrison had expressed understanding of Delhi's position on the crisis in Ukraine.

All the leaders of the Quad "had a fairly clear perspective that the situation in Ukraine should not impact on the Indo-Pacific" or divert attention away from the region, Shringla said.

Because India had worked with the US and its allies on regional security matters in recent years - it was designated a major defence partner by the US in 2016 and has taken part in joint naval exercises with its Quad partners since 2020 - Washington was willing to give Delhi "more space on Russia", said Richard Rossow, a senior adviser on US-India relations at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Swaran Singh, professor of international relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, said the US sees India as an important partner and values its expanding geopolitical partnership with India.

Western powers were also more concerned with China and Russia's shared interest in undermining the international order than they were about Delhi buying arms and oil from Moscow, said Alicja Bachulska, China analyst at the Asia Research Centre in Poland's War Studies University.

"There are fundamental differences between India and China when it comes to their behaviour in the context of the rules and standards governing the international order ... India does not actively try to undermine it, while China has been doing so for many years now," Bachulska said.

Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, an international-studies professor at India's Nalanda University, said the US-India relationship ran deep and was based on mutual concerns. Washington understands "we need to protect our interests", Chaturvedy said.

"Russia, for India, serves as an important bridge with China," said Debasish Roy Chowdhury, journalist and co-author of To Kill A Democracy: India's Passage to Despotism. "It is also against India's regional interest to make things so difficult for Russia that it is forced to strengthen its entente with China."

Just days before Modi took part in US President Joe Biden's much-touted Summit for Democracy in December, the Indian PM had been entertaining Putin in Delhi, Roy Chowdhury pointed out.

"India has never made any bones about its need to balance its multiple relations," he said. "A strategic relationship with Russia also prevents Moscow from drifting entirely toward Beijing, which would be a disaster for India."

On Monday, Indian foreign secretary Shringla held talks with visiting US under secretary of state for political affairs Victoria Nuland in Delhi. Both sides reportedly agreed to strengthen their bilateral partnership on supply chains, critical technologies, health security, the climate and terrorism, and hold a further meeting of their defence and foreign ministers as soon as next month.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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