Rubio ducks question on Russia

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said that while India remains a “very close partner” of the United States, President Donald Trump has imposed additional tariffs on New Delhi for its purchase of Russian oil as part of Washington's actions against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war.

- Agencies

He evaded a direct answer to a question on how long more Trump would give Russia to rein in force against Ukraine.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Rubio was responding to a question that Trump has “repeatedly threatened’ to act against Putin but backed off those threats, and how much more time the US administration would give the Russian leader as he intensified attacks on Ukraine.

“Well, I think he has taken action. so, for example, we've imposed additional tariffs on India and they're a very close partner of ours - and we had meetings with them again yesterday, and it has to do with their purchase of Russian oil,” Rubio said.