US and Quad allies say Russia’s nuclear threat is ‘inadmissible’
US secretary of state and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia also denounce Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea
03 March 2023 - 10:57
byKrishn Kaushik and Simon Lewis
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken. Picture: PETR DAVID JOSEK/REUTERS
New Delhi — Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia said in a statement on Friday after a meeting in New Delhi.
The so-called Quad group also said that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was “inadmissible”. Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests.
“If we allow with impunity Russia to do what it’s doing in Ukraine, then that’s a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too,” Blinken told a forum in India.
Blinken met with counterparts from the Quad group on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in New Delhi, where ministers had traded blame over the conflict.
A day earlier in New Delhi, Blinken met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time since the conflict began just over a year ago. During the brief encounter, Blinken urged Moscow to end the war and reverse its suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, a senior US official said.
The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke for less than 10 minutes and did not engage in any negotiations, Russian news agencies reported.
At the G20, the US and its allies called on member countries to keep pressuring Russia to end the conflict, but the G20 was unable to agree a joint statement on the war due to opposition from Russia, which calls its actions a “special military operation”, and China.
In their statement, the Quad ministers also took a barely disguised swipe at China by denouncing actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, and the “militarisation” of disputed territories in the area.
China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique “targeting other countries”.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
US and Quad allies say Russia’s nuclear threat is ‘inadmissible’
US secretary of state and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia also denounce Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea
New Delhi — Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia said in a statement on Friday after a meeting in New Delhi.
The so-called Quad group also said that the use, or threat of use, of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was “inadmissible”. Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests.
“If we allow with impunity Russia to do what it’s doing in Ukraine, then that’s a message to would-be aggressors everywhere that they may be able to get away with it too,” Blinken told a forum in India.
Blinken met with counterparts from the Quad group on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in New Delhi, where ministers had traded blame over the conflict.
A day earlier in New Delhi, Blinken met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time since the conflict began just over a year ago. During the brief encounter, Blinken urged Moscow to end the war and reverse its suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, a senior US official said.
The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke for less than 10 minutes and did not engage in any negotiations, Russian news agencies reported.
At the G20, the US and its allies called on member countries to keep pressuring Russia to end the conflict, but the G20 was unable to agree a joint statement on the war due to opposition from Russia, which calls its actions a “special military operation”, and China.
In their statement, the Quad ministers also took a barely disguised swipe at China by denouncing actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea, and the “militarisation” of disputed territories in the area.
China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique “targeting other countries”.
Reuters
Russia’s lower house votes to suspend participation in new START treaty
China promises more co-operation with Russia
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
Blinken tells Lavrov the US will support Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’
Russia pounds Ukraine amid ‘furious resistance’
NICHOLAS SHUBITZ: BBC raid shows India is immune to the glare of the West
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.