Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit this week was allegedly successful.
The prime minister enjoyed a spirited welcome from Congress and a sympathetic visit to the White House, culminating in Thursday’s state dinner.
He and President Joe Biden have announced deals on every part from jet engines to semiconductors that may strengthen the security and technology ties between the US and India, which is far desired.
But one key issue stays unresolved.
Reuters made the announcement the day Modi arrived in Washington Indian imports of Russian oil oil hit a latest high in May.
While Modi and Biden may issue a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to “catalysing the clean energy transition,” that does not change the indisputable fact that India’s growing energy needs are being met by fossil fuels from Russia, with President Vladimir Putin using the proceeds to finance the war in Ukraine.
Addressing India’s dependence on Russian energy must be a top priority for the United States, which is, in spite of everything, a serious donor to the Ukrainian side of the war by a major margin, not to mention one of the world’s largest energy producers.
It’s going to take greater than US and EU sanctions on Russian energy exports, which don’t prohibit imports of Indian fuel, to accomplish that.
Indeed, the Biden administration even encouraged such imports in hopes of keeping US domestic energy prices low.
To make matters worse, India has used a provision in EU regulations to sell its imported refined energy products, regardless of their country of origin, as in the event that they were produced in India – thus turning a profit on the sale of Russian energy to Europeans, at the same time as Putin wages war in Europe.
For his part, Putin has shown a willingness to use energy to force Modi to support him in Ukraine.
Last month, he threatened to halt energy contracts if India didn’t oppose Russia’s potential blacklisting by the Financial Motion Task Force.
The US turns a blind eye to this problem, exposing Modi to Putin’s energy blackmail, even when Biden hosts him at the White House.
It doesn’t have to be this fashion.
Washington can and will adopt a supportive and cooperative approach with Recent Delhi somewhat than punitive through sanctions.
A crucial first step can be to coordinate with India to ensure it has a reliable supply of imported energy from each America and other major allied energy producers.
The Trump administration moved on this direction in 2018 when it ended exemptions for significant reductions for Iranian oil.
Unfortunately, when the Biden administration refused such coordination, India quickly resumed efforts to break Iranian sanctions.
A change of course would require America to actually behave like an energy superpower whose abundant resources are a key strategic asset – not like an energy-sensitive nation whose only option is to coordinate releases from strategic oil reserves with other consumers.
There’s more at stake here.
In the emerging confrontation between the United States and China, India may prove to be America’s most vital ally in Southeast Asia, which is a large opportunity for each countries.
The world’s largest democracy will soon turn out to be the world’s largest country (if it is not already), boasting an enormous workforce and growing industrial sector, and a robust military.
But India can’t be a US partner on China and a Russian partner on energy.
The disaggregation of Russia and China is increasingly a thing of the past as each Putin and Xi publicly have a good time their increasingly close involvement in addition to hostility towards the United States.
Modi knows this and has recently put a stop to talks a few rupee-ruble trading platform due to the ruble’s exposure to the Chinese yuan.
But the US may have to move forward, counting on our own energy policy to help it make a firm break with Russia on energy – and nothing of the sort was discussed in Washington this week.
For all the goodwill shown by Congress and Biden’s team on Modi, leaving Russia’s energy issue unresolved is a serious failure that might seriously undermine all recent progress.
Biden is just not doing India a favor by pretending that the prime minister can have either side, and if the administration continues to ignore the energy issue for its climate agenda, India’s many friends and supporters in Congress should address it for the profit of each our nations.
Victoria Coates is a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and served as Deputy National Security Adviser for the Middle East and North Africa under the Donald J. Trump administration.