Head-on | It’s time to do some plain speaking with the West on Russia-Ukraine war
FirstpostWhat Russia is doing in Ukraine is inexcusable. India abstained on 12 October 2022 from a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions. Next came a raft of United Nations resolutions condemning Russia for the Ukraine invasion, imposing harsh sanctions on Moscow, and calling for Russia’s exclusion from the G20 foreign minister’s summit chaired by Indonesia. This is what Jaishankar said in Sydney the following day during an address to the Lowy Institute: “We think that targeting infrastructure and causing civilian deaths is not acceptable in any part of the world.” The latest attempt to coerce India into toeing the Western line on Ukraine is to urge New Delhi to sharply reduce arms purchases from Russia. The West — which today seeks India’s “neutral” voice to condemn Russia for targeting civilians in Ukraine — is ironically the greatest offender of bombing civilians.