The comments were made early on in the second Trump presidency, according to New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
US Vice President JD Vance had suggested that troops from India or Saudi Arabia, could be deployed as peacekeepers in Ukraine in a discussion at the White House on the American strategy on the Ukraine war, according to a new book published on Tuesday.
The comments were made early on in the second Trump presidency, according to “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
The Trump administration held a meeting in the Oval Office ten days after inauguration, where the President and his top advisers were receiving a briefing by retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, whom Trump appointed as special presidential envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
During the discussion, Kellogg presented a proposal titled “An America First Plan: Trump’s Historic Peace Deal for Russia-Ukraine War”, Haberman and Swan write. As part of the proposal, the US would not formally recognise Russia’s claims over occupied Ukrainian territory but would also include “a significant concession that Ukraine would not try to recapture already-lost territory by force” — an approach that led the gathering to discuss non-NATO peacekeepers.
“Are there troops from other countries that could serve this purpose,” the book quotes the VP as asking, before suggesting “Saudi Arabia or India”. “Trump chuckled,” the book adds, quoting the president: “The Indians won’t do that. They won’t pay for something like that.”
Trump reportedly said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a good relationship with him. “Prime Minister Modi really liked him and wanted to visit, Trump said, but the Indians do not ever pay for anything”, according to the book.
Trump on tariffs on India
In another chapter of the book, Trump mentions India again while discussing tariffs. Days after tech billionaire Elon Musk, who had served as a “special government employee”, clashed with cabinet secretaries, the White House hosted a meeting of the Technology CEO Council on March 10. Among those in attendance in the Roosevelt Room were the heads of several major technology companies, including IBM, Dell, HPE, HP Inc., Qualcomm and Intel.