Developed countries should accept responsibility for the consequences of

Canberra: India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warned the US and other advanced countries that they should take responsibility for the global consequences of their political and economic decisions. After the Ukraine conflict erupted, the US imposed sanctions on Russia, which have affected other countries more than Russia. Avoiding direct mention, the Finance Minister of India seems to have warned the US and European countries. The US, which demanded that India stop buying fuel from Russia, had strongly reacted after India refused. Currently, the US has been taking decisions targeting India. Against that background, Finance Minister Sitharaman’s warning becomes significant.

Finance Minister Sitharaman is on a visit to the US for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank programme. She met US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Speaking at the Brookings Institute in the US, Finance Minister Sitharaman reprimanded the developed countries explicitly. Sitharaman said that these countries should realise the consequences of their political and economic decisions on the world and also accept the responsibility for its negative consequences. Not only this, but while making decisions that affect the world, Sitharaman drew attention to the fact that it is the sole responsibility of developed countries to build a ‘safety net’ so that others do not suffer from it.

Meanwhile, the US and anti-Russian European countries have been demanding that India should not buy fuel from Russia and not supply money to Russia for Ukraine’s conflict. The US had pressurised India on a large scale for that. However, saying that European countries have purchased much more fuel from Russia than India, India defied the pressure of the US and European countries. India had not even taken note of the US threats. The results of this have started to be seen, and the Biden administration has been consistently taking decisions targeting India. This includes the decision to develop other forms of military cooperation with Pakistan and a package for modernising Pakistan’s fighter jets.

India has taken note of this, and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has constantly been making the US aware of the consequences of this decision. Finance Minister Sitharaman, who is now on a visit to the US, also seems to have reprimanded the US by saying that poor and developing countries are suffering from the decisions of developed countries.