'Relationship with India stands on its own merit'

Washington DC: America's relationship with India stands on its own merits and has not been impacted by the ongoing tension with Russia, a top State Department official has said, days after India abstained from a procedural vote in the UN Security Council to discuss the situation on the Ukraine border.

For the second time this week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price refrained from responding to questions related to India's position on Ukraine in the United Nations Security Council.

Asked if the US ties with India have been impacted due to the tension with Russia over the Ukraine crisis, Price said: We have a relationship with India that stands on its own merits .

I will leave it to our Indian partners to discuss their stance in the UN Security on this particular issue.

We have been in touch with literally dozens of countries around the world, including our Indian partners, on our concerns regarding Russia's military buildup and its unprovoked potential aggression against Ukraine, Price told reporters at his daily news conference on

Thursday.

These are conversations that the United States is having at different levels, he said.

Russia is reported to have amassed an estimated 100,000 troops near the border with Ukraine has brought increasingly strong warnings from the West that Moscow intends to invade.

Russia has repeatedly denied that it plans to invade Ukraine. However, Moscow is demanding that NATO promise never to allow Ukraine to join the military alliance, and to stop the deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.

The US and NATO have rejected Russia's demands but have not ruled out more talks to address the security concerns of Moscow and ease

the crisis.