US says it hopes to work closely with India to end Ukraine-Russia conflict

Washington: India as the G20 host has a “unique role” to play in bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine due to its “longstanding historical” ties to Russia, the US has said, expressing hope to work closely with New Delhi to find a way to stop the conflict.

The G20 foreign ministers’ meeting hosted by India on Thursday was unable to come out with a joint communique due to a sharp rift between the West and Russia over the Ukraine conflict despite efforts by host India to bridge the differences.

“We are deeply grateful to our Indian partners for the way they have led the G20 to date. And as you alluded to, there is a lot more work to be done over the course of this year, but India is off to a very promising start with its stewardship of the G-20,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Thursday. The India-US partnership was a subject of discussion between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterpart External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi, Price said, describing the ties with India as one of the most consequential relationships the US has.