Author: Dibakar De*
India’s decision to abstain from voting in favour or against Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in the UNSC, UNHRC and UNGA has left the international community with mixed feelings. India and Russia have shared a “special relation” since the height of Cold War era due to the latter having rescued the former from precarious situations numerous times while it was still heralded as the head of the Soviet Union, such as extending support to India’s sovereignty over the territory of Kashmir in 1955, withholding support to China during the 1962 Sino-Indian war, signing of the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in 1971 to provide India a security guarantee against Chinese and American threat. When the USSR disintegrated in 1991, Russia inherited close ties with India and has continued to uphold them ever since, despite a few crests and troughs in the bilateral relations being shaped with the rise of China as an economic superpower. It is also a well-known fact amongst scholars, government officials and common citizens alike, that India relies on Russia for most of its defence supplies – at least that had been the case until it was curtain falls for the UPA led central government in 2014. The years after, witnessed the tides changing with India signing multiple deals with the United States of America, Israel, France, Japan, Germany and South Korea. India has also begun acquiring military hardware from the aforementioned nations with more incoming deals tabled for signing. Many scholars and officials have speculated that this decision could have hammered the nail on India’s ambitions to gradually increase its rapport with the West. Many on the other hand, opined that falling in line with the West would have been an act of utter betrayal towards Russia, which has backed India up through thick and thin for more than six decades.
Image Courtesy: The Hindu
Full article at: https://diplomatist.com/2022/03/10/russia-ukraine-war-india-abstaining-in-pursuit-of-national-interests-is-only-fair/
*He is doctoral candidate in AIIS, Amity University, Noida.
