The United States started "preparing rigorously" for a potential nuclear strike by Moscow against Kyiv as the Russia-Ukraine conflict raged in 2022, reports said on Sunday.
The report stated that outreach from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other countries also played an important role in averting the crisis. According to officials, the Biden administration expressed particular worry that Russia could potentially employ a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon.
According to CNN, in the midst of concerns, the United States attempted to involve countries like India, even if they are not allies, in order to dissuade Russia from carrying out such an assault.
"One of the things we did was not only message them directly but strongly urge, press, encourage other countries, to whom they might be more attentive, to do the same thing," a senior administration official said.
US officials credit the avoidance of a crisis to the efforts made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other individuals through their outreach and public statements.
"I think we believe showing the international community the concern about this, particularly the concern from key countries for Russia and the Global South, was also a helpful, persuasive factor and showed them what the cost of all this could be," CNN quoted a senior administration official as saying.
Regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India has always condemned civilian killings and called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
In a major statement, PM Modi told President Putin that "this is not the era of war" on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan last year. The statement even made to the G20 communique under the presidency of India.
