The war in Ukraine has made India a problem for the American government.

When President Joe Biden says that Russia has isolated itself through its war of aggression in the world, this does not include the most populous democracy.

A video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a meeting of foreign and defense ministers on Monday in the State Department served as another attempt to build a bridge for the Indian government.

At the end of March, Daleep Singh, Deputy National Security Advisor in the White House, made an appearance in Delhi - shortly before Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the Indian capital.

Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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As expected, Antony Blinken appealed to the guests that democracies should stand together and speak with one voice.

It is important, the foreign minister said, that all states, "especially those with influence," put pressure on Moscow to end the war.

When his Indian colleague Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was then asked about the Russian offer to buy additional oil and gas at reduced prices, he replied: If he looks at the figures, Indian energy imports from Russia in a month are smaller than what Shop Europe in an afternoon.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who said weeks ago that India should think about which side it wants to be on if this moment goes down in history books, has now admitted that India only generates 1-2 percent of its energy needs Russia and the imports do not violate the sanctions regime.

Still, she added, Biden has made it clear he would like to help India diversify its energy imports.

He also stressed that he didn't think it was in India's interest to increase imports.

Dheli maintains a close relationship with Moscow

Another question is more complicated: Washington, said Blinken, continues to insist that other states not buy any armaments from Russia.

However, no decision has been made as to whether Delhi's acquisition of the S-400 Triumf missile system will be exempt from sanctions.

Biden highlighted Washington's growing defense cooperation with Delhi - and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed that both sides had discussed the possibility of cooperation in cyberspace and space.

Delhi maintains a close relationship with Moscow that dates back to the days of the Cold War – including from a military point of view.

India has so far been dependent on arms supplies from Russia.

While it used to be primarily about the arch-enemy Pakistan, which was an ally of America in the Cold War, today the focus is at least as much on the rival China.

India wants to prevent Moscow from moving even closer to Beijing.

This is one of the reasons why it repeatedly abstained at the United Nations in New York when it came to condemning Russia's war.

So Austin, looking at the military cooperation, said he was glad that both sides had opened up new opportunities for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

After all, China is trying to reshape the region and the international order according to its own interests.

Washington has done a lot of work to build and strategically integrate India in Asia as a counterweight to China.

Last but not least, the quad alliance was formed from Washington, Delhi, Tokyo and Canberra.