Blinken, Jaishankar review 'shared efforts' in Indo-Pacific

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday (local time) spoke to Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and reviewed their shared efforts to promote a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. "Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar today to review regional priorities, including the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine and our shared efforts to promote a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, in which the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states is respected," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

India and the United States are scheduled to hold a 2+2 dialogue in Washington on April 11. The EAM Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet their counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin respectively. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh will also have other meetings on the sidelines.

The last 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the two countries was held in October 2020 in New Delhi. Moreover, as Russia's war on Ukraine is set to enter the sixth week, the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine has now crossed the four million mark, the chief of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday.

Notably, Russia launched its invasion last month after recognizing the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics." Russia has since continued to maintain that the aim of its operations has been to "demilitarize" and "de-nazify" the country.Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many Western nations and European countries have imposed tough sanctions on Russia targeting its economy and financial system.