United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday hailed India’s effort in tackling the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons in the ongoing war against its neighbouring nation. 

While speaking to The Atlantic, the top US official said that the Biden administration had been in direct contact with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov following President Vladimir Putin’s open warning to the already war-torn nation. Besides, Blinken said that America also approached other nations such as China and India to soft-soap Russia with their diplomatic leverage and added the results were positive.

“There was some concern that Putin might react even more irrationally. And there was language coming out of Moscow that suggested that he would look to the use of tactical nuclear weapons. We not only messaged him very directly but engaged my counterpart, Mr Lavrov,” Blinken told The Atlantic.

“The messages had some effect”

“Other countries that might have a little bit more influence with Russia these days, like China, but also other countries, like India, to engage him directly about their absolute opposition to any use of nuclear weapons. And we know that they conveyed those messages. And I think that had some effect,” he added.

It is worth mentioning during the early days of the war, President Putin had warned Ukraine of nuclear attacks, prompting other nations and international watchdogs to convince Putin.

Blinken to attend G20 meeting in India 

Notably, the statement from Blinken came a week ahead of his visit to New Delhi where he is scheduled to attend the G20 meeting.

Besides, he will also meet his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar and other officials. “On March 1, he will travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which will focus on strengthening multilateralism and deepening cooperation on food and energy security, sustainable development, counter-narcotics, global health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and gender equality and women’s empowerment,” the US State Department said in a statement.

Also Read: Russia-Ukraine war: The Story so far

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