Russia must be punished for Ukraine war, US, Quad allies say

Written by Krishan Kaushik and Simon Lewis

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Russia cannot be allowed to wage war with impunity, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his counterparts from India, Japan and Australia said in a statement after a meeting in New Delhi on Friday.

The so-called Quad Group also said the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine was “unacceptable”. Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear testing.

“If we allow Russia to do what it’s doing in Ukraine with impunity, it could be aggressive everywhere that they get away with it,” Blinken told a forum in India.

Blinken met the Quad Group’s counterparts on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in New Delhi, where ministers blamed 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 standoff, Blinken called on Moscow to end the fighting and lift the suspension of the New START nuclear deal, a senior US official said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke for less than 10 minutes and did not engage in any discussions, Russian news agencies reported.

At the G20, the United States and its allies called on member states to pressure Russia to end the conflict, but the G20 was unable to agree on a joint statement on the war over opposition from Russia, which called its actions “special military”. Operation”, and China.

In their statement, the Quad ministers took barely disguised swipes at China, condemning the escalation of tensions in the South China Sea and the “militarization” of disputed territories in the region.

China has condemned the Quad as a Cold War construct and a cycle “targeting other countries”.

(Reporting by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)