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Last week, India was among four countries that abstained on a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemning the “referenda” organised by Russia in four regions. Hours before Friday afternoon’s voting in New York, Russian President Vladimir Putin “annexed” four regions inside Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders - Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.
The UNSC resolution that was sponsored by the United States and Albania, reports Sriram Lakshman from the UN, failed to pass the 15-member Council despite winning ten supporting votes, after Russia, unsurprisingly, used a veto. A similar resolution is likely to be introduced in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) – where Russia does not have a veto - in the near future. India decided to abstain on the resolution “keeping in view the totality of the evolving situation” , its Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ruchira Kamboj, said. Other countries abstaining were China, Brazil and Gabon.
While India’s abstention wasn’t entirely unexpected given its past stand on the issue, it did seem to come as somewhat of a surprise to some Western commentators and diplomats, who had held out hope that India’s vote in this instance would have shifted from past “abstentions” to a “yes vote”. The reason for this was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Samarkand in mid-September on the “era of war” having ended, which were followed by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s speech at the UNGA where he spoke of India being “on the side of the UN charter”. These were, however, misplaced expectations, writes Suhasini Haidar, who explains why U.S. and European diplomats misread what India’s stand on the conflict is.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar shake hands during a joint press availability at the State Department on September 27, 2022 in Washington, DC. | Photo Credit: AFP
Indeed, shortly before the vote, the U.S. was quick to back India’s recent comments, which were highlighted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken who held talks last week with Jaishankar in Washington. The Ukraine issue also figured in Jaishankar’s talks with National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan, although the main focus of his engagements in Washington was the India-U.S. strategic relationship.
One of the issues raised by Jaishankar in Washington was U.S. assistance to Pakistan for F-16 aircraft. The Minister said he had raised the $450 million package in his talks.
In this week’s World View, which you can read or watch here, Suhasini Haidar breaks down the F-16 deal and how it has become a thorn in the side of India-U.S. relations.
The Top Five
What we are reading this week – the best of The Hindu’s Opinion and Analysis
- As Iran sees widespread protests, the system the Ayatollah built has started showing signs of age, writes Stanly Johny. We also looked at the causes for the protests in this podcast with Dr. Anuradha Chenoy, former professor of international relations, Jawaharlal Nehru University, who explains why Iranian women are taking to the streets.
- Also on Iran: New Delhi is in a bind on how to balance its cooperation with Tehran with its other bilateral ties, writes Suhasini Haidar.
- As Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva challenges Brazil’s far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a closely fought election, Srinivasan Ramani looks at the politics of the former President, who has promised a new form of welfarism with ecological and infrastructure spending.
- Meera Srinivasan reports from Sri Lanka on how refugee families are leading especially precarious lives amid the country’s economic downturn, marked by sharp inflation, soaring living costs and shortages that have prompted scores of Sri Lankans to desperately leave the country.
- We look ahead to China’s all-important Communist Party congress, which opens in Beijing on October 16, and explain what is at stake.
