“India is deeply disturbed by the recent turn of developments in Ukraine. We urge that all efforts are made for the immediate cessation of violence and hostilities. No solution can ever be arrived at the cost of human lives,” said India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti on behalf of India, which abstained from voting on a UNSC resolution that condemned Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from the neighbouring country. By abstaining, India has chosen to keep its window open to reach out to concerned sides in an effort to find the middle ground with an aim to foster back dialogue and diplomacy.
There are times when even history fails to provide any account or instances that one could refer to in order to shepherd a way out of a crisis. While the recent launch of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia is not unfamiliar to history, it has certainly increased the criticality quotient for India, as it handles its UNSC Presidency with utmost ministration, and at the same time pulls out all the stops to evacuate Indians back to its soil.
The military attacks on Ukraine has reshuffled an already intricate world order, leaving India to walk on a tightrope of protecting its diplomatic ties with the NATO states as well as with CSTO and Russia. As both of these alliances enjoy the veto votes in UNSC, It would make it rather difficult for India, which has been seeking a permanent membership at the high table, to chair a council that has already begun to split into factions.
The US too has to settle on a decision. Either it could allow Ukraine to be steamrolled and Moscow to get all power-backed. Or it could decide to intervene indirectly and levy sanctions that do not hurt Russia directly. Or it could also intervene directly and maybe even launch a nuclear war that would devastate the world and all the people living in it.
As for the imposition of financial sanctions on Russia, the possibilities of such counterattacks are never hard to guess. Perhaps, this is why it looks like Washington is taking the second option of levying enormous sanctions on the Kremlin that would hurt some but not all of its sectors. In such a case, the world could contemplate the following choices : i) Focus on saving more and more Ukrainian lives, ii) Focus on preventing anymore destruction in Ukraine, iii) Focus on how to halt Russia’s massive offensive into Ukrainian territory, iv) Rebuild Ukraine after the war.
However, the above mentioned choices seem far from getting picked currently, which could result in a more deteriorating aftermath and might leave Russia’s next targets, the Stans, vulnerable. Peace should try to be restored by India and others, or else the world might end up giving birth to another humanitarian crisis. India has prioritized citizens first, of the world and of its own. Ensuring this is also in tandem with action points identified by NATO leaders, as they called on Russia to stop the “senseless war” & immediately cease its assault by withdrawing all its forces from Ukraine, and turn back to the path of dialogue.
SHARE
