Today, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden will have a virtual chat before their foreign and defence ministers meet in Washington.

The annual conference of ministers, known as the 2+2 Dialogue, began in 2018 with the goal of deepening cooperation between the two countries.

The forum’s focus has been on enhancing Asia’s bilateral relations and cooperation. It is also considered as part of Washington’s strategy to assist India in becoming a regional counterweight to China.

On most topics of mutual importance, the two countries have mostly been on the same page – at least in public comments.

However, But it’s not business as usual this time because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The standard line about developing the “complete global strategic cooperation” between the two countries was included in Delhi’s news statement ahead of the discussions.

However, the US statement mentioned “mitigating the destabilising effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” implying that the US will again nudge India – perhaps not too hard – to take a stronger position on Moscow.

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