Russia 'expects India's support' as US steps up pressure to condemn Ukraine invasion

Russia's Charge d'affaires Roman Babushkin said India has a deep understanding of the reasons that led to the current situation in Ukraine

Hours after President Joe Biden publicly hinted at “unresolved” differences between Washington D.C. and New Delhi over Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, Moscow sought continued support from India.

“We expect our Indian partners to support Russia,” Moscow’s acting envoy to New Delhi, Roman Babushkin, said. “We are confident that our Indian partners have a deep understanding of the situation with its historical background. We are also confident they understand the decision of the Russian leadership,” he said on Friday.

Babushkin conveyed Moscow’s expectation to New Delhi even as India resisted pressure from the United States and other western nations to strongly condemn Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

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“We're in consultation with India today. We haven't resolved that completely,” the US President told journalists in Washington D.C. late on Thursday. He was replying to a question if India was in sync with the US position that any nation that countenanced Russia's naked aggression against Ukraine would be stained by association.

Biden’s Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, too spoke to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and, according to the US State Department, “stressed the importance” of India joining the US and others in “a strong collective response to condemn Russia's invasion and call for an immediate withdrawal and ceasefire”.

Jaishankar, however, remained non-committal on New Delhi’s stand on a resolution, which was drafted by the United States and other western nations for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to adopt, calling out Russia for its invasion into Ukraine. The resolution will seek to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Also Read: Russia says ready for talks if Ukraine 'lays down arms'

“Appreciate the call from @SecBlinken. Discussed the ongoing developments in Ukraine and its implications,” tweeted the External Affairs Minister.

The UNSC is likely to meet to discuss the situation in Ukraine in the early hours on Friday. The resolution is unlikely to be adopted as Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and, like the US, United Kingdom, France and China, yields the veto power. India is at present one of the 10 non-permanent members of the council.

New Delhi has been treading cautiously on Russia’s build-up against Ukraine over the past few weeks. Just hours before Russia launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine, India reiterated at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council that it was in favour of urgent de-escalation of tension and sustained and focused diplomatic efforts to bridge divergent interests. “I would like to underline that the legitimate security interests of all parties should be fully taken into account,” T S Tirumurti, New Delhi's envoy to the UN, told the Security Council, adding: “Situation is in danger of spiralling into a major crisis.”

But after Russia announced the launch of military operations in Ukraine, New Delhi did not condemn the move.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and reiterated his long-standing conviction that the differences between Russia and NATO could only be resolved through “honest and sincere dialogue”.

Though the official press release issued by the Prime Minister’s office in New Delhi after Modi-Putin talks subtly conveyed New Delhi’s displeasure over Russia’s military operations against Ukraine, it cautiously avoided calling out Kremlin.

“I emphasized that India supports diplomacy & (as) dialogue as the way out,” Jaishankar stated after a phone call with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Also Read | 'I don't want to die': Ukrainians fear as invasion closes in

Kuleba urged Jaishankar to use all influence in India’s relations with Russia to force it to cease military aggression against Ukraine.

Though the Modi Government has been speaking out against China’s aggression along its disputed boundary with India, it refrained from siding with the US and abstained from voting against Russia on the issue of Ukraine at the UNSC on January 31.

Even as the US has been trying to draw a parallel between China's belligerence against India and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region and Russia's military build-up around Ukraine, New Delhi last week rejected the argument, saying the situations in the two regions have not been “analogous”.

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