Biden’s top advisor to arrive India ahead of the Russian Foreign Minister’s New Delhi Trip

New Delhi: As the Ukraine-Russia war rages on, top US advisor Daleep Singh will be traveling to India today for a two-day trip. The Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics – also resident Joe Biden’s point person on Russian sanctions – will be visiting around the same time as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Indian-American economic advisor Daleep Singh, the Bureaucrat leading US President Joe Biden’s economic sanctions on Russia, will be in New Delhi on March 30 and 31. Singh was born in Maryland and worked as executive vice president and head of the markets group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the past.

“Singh will consult closely with counterparts on the consequences of Russia’s unjustified war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy,” said Emily Horne, spokesperson of the National Security Council of the White House. The visit also comes ahead of proposed 2+2 dialogues between India and the US next month.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also set to fly to India this week for a brief visit. It will only be Lavrov’s third visit overseas since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, after a trip to Turkey for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart earlier this month and a scheduled meeting in China on Thursday.

India, one of the biggest buyers of Russian commodities since the international community began isolating Moscow, has so far stopped short of explicitly condemning the war. Instead, New Delhi has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and abstained from voting on multiple UN resolutions on the war.

According to the media report, Singh is leading the efforts of the Biden administration to impose punitive sanctions on Russia over its actions against Ukraine.

(Vinayak)