The Putin regime poses an existential threat to world peace and global prosperity.
Indians of my parent’s generation reverently remember President John F. Kennedy for coming to India’s aid in ending China’s military offensive of 1962. To deter Beijing from escalating the conflict along the shared 1,800-mile border, President Kennedy dispatched a carrier battle group to the Bay of Bengal, signalling U.S. and Western support for embattled Indians.
Today, as the Ukrainian military and enlisted civilians mount heroic resistance to invading Russian forces, New Delhi has failed to take a similarly principled stance. India’s official position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine mirrors that of China.
On February 25 India, along with China and The United Arab Emirates, abstained from the United Nations Security Council resolution that sought an immediate stop to the Russian invasion. Moscow blocked the resolution, which was backed by 11 of the council’s 15 members. India’s stand at the UN and its subsequent position on Ukraine has earned ringing praise from Kremlin.
Indian foreign policy experts and media commentators have justified New Delhi’s approach by citing the country’s dependence on Russian arms supplies, and the prospect of precuring cheap Russian oil and gas in the wake of the latest U.S. and Western sanctions.
Defense estimates suggest that around 60 percent of India’s military equipment comes from Russia. In energy consumption, it’s a different picture, where the Russian crude oil amounts to roughly 2 percent of total imports.
One could question the wisdom of overreliance on military equipment from Russia, a country that impulsively started a war in continental Europe and threatens the world with a nuclear strike. Or the economic viability of importing Russian oil.
However, there is a bigger issue at stake here.
If we allow Russia to wage a war of annihilation against a sovereign nation with blatant disregard for international law, what will stop China from launching a similar offensive to settle its ongoing territorial dispute with India?
If India’s primary concern during the current conflict is to safeguard its own economic and strategic interest, how could New Delhi expect the world, especially the U.S. and the West, to look beyond their commercial interests and come to its aid?
We Indians learned in the bitter winter of 1962, as wave after wave of Chinese offensive overwhelmed our defenders on the Himalayas, that freedom is not free. As India continues on its quest for economic growth and poverty alleviation, it needs the stability and security offered by international law and conventions established in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Russia, governed by President Vladimir Putin and his narrow clique, poses an existential threat to world peace and thereby to global prosperity. Not for some lofty ideals, but in India’s own self-interest, the country must uphold the rules of international law, and take stand on the world stage against Putin’s war of aggression on Ukraine.
