On Thursday, Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics of the Biden administration, Daleep Singh, decided to take a ‘leave of absence’ from May first week citing personal reasons. Singh is a senior official of the Biden administration and serves as the chief architect of US sanctions on Russia amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
According to the reports, the absence of Daleep Singh might create problems for the United States which had relied upon the global sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. However, the dates of Singh’s ‘leave of absence’ to resolve family issues are not yet clear.
Singh has been one of the chief architects behind economic sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration on Russia. He identified that the Russian economy was dependent on Western technologies such as microchips and software and that Russian banks were dependent on overseas capital. He helped to coordinate sanctions on Russia’s central bank, as the US, EU, UK, and Canada prohibited its banks from doing business with the Russian central bank.
It is important to note that Singh had earlier threatened India for purchasing oil from Russia and setting up an alternate payment mechanism to circumvent the US sanctions. Aiming to coerce India into submitting to the Western diktat, he had said that the country doesn’t want to see a rapid acceleration in India’s imports from Russia of energy and other commodities prohibited by global sanctions regimes.
“I come here in a spirit of friendship to explain the mechanisms of our sanctions, the importance of joining us, to express a shared resolve, and to advance shared interests. And yes, there are consequences to countries that actively attempt to circumvent or backfill the sanctions,” he had remarked.
He had also claimed that Russia would not come to India’s rescue if China was to continue its misadventure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). “Russia is going to be the junior partner in this relationship with China. And the more leverage that China gains over Russia, the less favorable that is for India, I don’t think anyone would believe that if China once again breached the Line of Actual Control, Russia will come running to India’s defense,” he had said.
Hitting back strong at Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar then had said that the largest buyers of Russian oil and gas were from Europe and that it was natural for the countries to look for good deals, especially at the time when global markets were volatile.
The Biden-led government has imposed various sanctions on Russia. The recent sanctions imposed by the US consist of economic measures to ban new investment in Russia, severe sanctions on two Russian financial institutions – Alfa-Bank and Sberbank, sanctions on critical major state-owned enterprises, and sanctions on Russian government officials and their family members, including President Putin’s adult children and relatives of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The country has also banned the import of some Russian fuels and goods and funneled cash and arms to Ukraine to buy its defense. Reports mention that the White House is considering replacing Singh temporarily with Mike Pyle who serves as chief economic adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris.
