The difficult times the world is going through right now are testing the India-US relationship but they are also bringing the two countries “closer together than ever before”, US treasury secretary Janet Yellen conceded in India on Friday.

Yellen also joined the list of senior members of the US administration to underscore the importance of civil liberties and human rights during India visits. “We are living at a critical time for the cause of freedom around the world. Democracies require our constant attention and nurturing,” Yellen said.

“It is important for all democracies to renew our commitment to civil liberties and human rights, including for all our minorities, at home and abroad. And we must continue to cultivate the economic vitality that is tied to our democratic traditions. That’s an open, inclusive, and competitive economy where new ideas can grow and thrive, with the stability and reliability accorded by adherence to the rule of law,” the US treasury secretary added.

She said this at her first engagement in India while addressing a meeting at Microsoft. Yellen did not go into the specifics and avoided finger-pointing, possibly keeping in mind the likelihood of India responding in the same tenor with references to the violence on Capitol Hill in January 2021 and the recurrent gun violence in the US as New Delhi has done in the past in response to criticism from Washington on human rights and minority issues here.

Referring to the oft-quoted remark of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan in September that “this is not an era of war”, Yellen said Russia’s war on Ukraine had pushed millions into poverty and hunger.

“I believe that ending Russia’s war is a moral imperative. It is also the single best thing we can do to help the global economy. This is a view that is broadly shared among policymakers of the world’s major economies,” she said.

India has been consistent in calling for the cessation of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine from the very beginning of the conflict on February 24 but last week external affairs minister S. Jaishankar sought to package India’s cooperation with Russia through these uncertain times as a catalyst in stabilising the global economy through the volatility.