US says it has raised concerns with India about its Russia ties amid Modi's Moscow visit

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday said that his government had raised concerns with India about the country's relationship with Russia, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting Ukrainian Preisdent Volodymyr Zelenskyy was an 'important step.'

"I will look to Prime Minister Modi's public remarks to see what he talked about but as I said, we have made quite clear directly with India our concerns about their relationship with Russia," State Department spokesperson Miller said in a press briefing.

Prime Minister Modi is currently on a two-day visit to Russia and was hosted by President Vladimir Putin on Monday night at the Russian leader's dacha.


"So again, we did just see PM Modi, like PM Orban, meet with President Zelenskyy. We thought that was an important step to take.," Miller said.

India has faced pressure from the West to distance itself from Moscow after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but New Delhi has continued to maintain its longstanding ties with Russia, necessary for its economy.

Talks with Putin "will surely go a long way in further cementing the bonds of friendship" between the two countries, Prime Minister Modi said in a post on X.

"And so we would hope (that) India and any other country when they engage with Russia would make clear that Russia should respect the U.N. Charter, should respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Miller added at the briefing.

Russia has been India's largest weapons supplier since the Soviet Union days, with this week's diplomatic visit featuring conversation between Modi and Putin regarding joint manufacturing under the Make in India scheme among other issues.

This is the first time Prime Minister Modi has been in Moscow since the war began, and also the first time after he won a historic third term in the general elections held in May.