US will raise Ukraine issue at Quad meet: Ned Price

Washington; United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will indeed raise the issue of Russian-Ukraine tensions at the Quad meeting consisting of Australian, Indian, American and Japanese ministers in Melbourne this month, state department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.

When asked whether the administration had considered a change in Blinken's travel schedule due to the situation in Ukraine, state department spokesperson Ned Price, at a press briefing on Monday, told reporters, "He, I am sure, will be focused to a large degree on this (Ukraine) challenge even when he is in the Indo-Pacific. It will certainly come up with counterparts in the Quad and elsewhere."

The Quad summit will be an important place for the US to reaffirm it's commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and the countries attending the summit. The core message of Blinken's visit was that in an era of "intense competition, changing strategic landscapes, economic coercion, and of course, this very difficult global pandemic", there was no greater global partnership than what the US was trying to attempt through Quad, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affair Daniel J Kritenbrink said last week.

Price said that the Quad summit would be a very important step in strengthening relationships with Indo-Pacific nations in the even of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. The negotiations would also help offset an ongoing Russia-China partnership, he said.

Last week, India, which has close strategic ties with both the US and Russia, abstained from a vote on whether the UNSC should discuss the Ukraine situation. But with a majority of UNSC members voting to take up the agenda, the Indian permanent representative at the UN, TS Tirumurti, spoke of the need for diplomacy.

Russia thanked India for its abstention, while the US has categorically denied that its rising tensions with Russia have affected ties with India, and said that its relationship with India stands on its own merits. Rumours of US sanctions over India's deal to purchase the S-400 missile defence system from Russia were also raised, as the US has provisions to impose sanctions on those who purchase defence hardware from Russia.

However America has not officially state whether it will apply sanctions to India under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).