As Ukraine dials PM Modi to seek support against Russia, what options does India have

New Delhi | Mukul Sharma: As Russian troops advance into Kyiv with strong resistance from the Ukrainian side, India is seen walking on a diplomatic tightrope while balancing its ‘privileged strategic partnership’ with Russia and also pointing out the principled respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of states as one of the building blocks of contemporary global order. Hours after India abstained on a UN Security Council resolution deploring Russia’s ‘aggression’ into Ukraine ‘in the strongest terms’, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky dialed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ‘urged India to give political support in the UN Security Council’.

Spoke with 🇮🇳 Prime Minister @narendramodi. Informed of the course of 🇺🇦 repulsing 🇷🇺 aggression. More than 100,000 invaders are on our land. They insidiously fire on residential buildings. Urged 🇮🇳 to give us political support in🇺🇳 Security Council. Stop the aggressor together!

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2022

Zelensky seeks India’s support against Russia: What options does India have?

By abstaining from UN Security Council resolution on Saturday, sources said that India retained the option of reaching out to the relevant sides in an effort to bridge the gap and find the middle ground with an aim to foster dialogue and diplomacy.

Experts whom Jagran English reached out to, point out that the events in Ukraine will have repercussions.

Brigadier Arun Sahgal (Retd), Executive Director of the Forum for Strategic Initiative, told Jagran English that there is ‘every chance that Russia will end up in a same quagmire like Afghanistan’ and that diplomacy remains the only solution to the ongoing conflict. “Both Ukraine and Russia must return to negotiating table,” he says, adding that India must also enjoin upon the west to seek path of negotiations while emphasising on stopping the bloodshed.

“We (Indians) are conscious that these events will result in repercussions, which India as a major country will be able to withstand,” Brigadier Arun Sahgal told Jagran English.

‘India needs to adopt a neutral stance in its national interest’

Major General Rajan Kochhar (Retd), Defence Analyst and Senior Advisor to Delhi-based Politika and Consilium Research Institute (PCRI) said that India's options have already been put out by its statement in the United Nations Security Council.

“India’s options have already been enunciated by the statement made in the UN, wherein we would like cessation of the conflict at the earliest and resolution of the issue through diplomacy, dialogue and disengagement. India in its own national interest needs to adopt a neutral stance considering its proximity to both the United States and Russia,” he added.

‘India could offer to host talks, help monitor ceasefire’

Author and Defence Analyst Dr Sanjay Badri-Maharaj, a leading expert on nuclear warfare in the Indian subcontinent told Jagran English that India must urge a halt to fighting, respect for territorial integrity and dialogue between the countries. “Furthermore, to up the ante, India could offer to host talks and if the parties are amenable, help monitor the ceasefire,” he added.

More than 120,000 people have fled Ukraine since Russian assault began on Thursday, a UN official said.

As per official statements from Ukrainian side, so far 198 people have been killed and more than 1,000 others have been wounded in the Russian offensive that began on February 24.  It also claimed that Russia had lost around 3,500 men in the first two days of the war between the two nations.

Russia is yet to acknowledge the number of losses inflicted upon its forces during the ongoing escalation of violence in Ukraine.