The abstention

For sure, none of these statements and positions, whether in phone calls or at the Security Council horse-shoe, are etched in stone. The Ukraine crisis is developing by the minute, and Delhi will need to review its position accordingly. The Ukrainian president, who was hardly believed to be the right fit for high national office, is clearly a hero, one who knows how to use social media. Using these platforms to great effect, he has single-handedly marshalled the sympathy of people around the world in this David vs Goliath battle, inviting comparisons with how just a few months ago, the Afghan President upped and left the people of his country to deal with the Taliban on their own. Stories of brave Ukrainians taking on Russian soldiers has underlined how international law counts for nothing when weak countries are up against powerful nations. Casualties are bound to rise. As it fine-tunes its position, India will have to factor all this, particularly Russian President Vladimir Putin’s international isolation and his loss of moral high ground as a “victim” of NATO’s machinations. Even Putin’s fast friend China, which has its own territory problems, spoke about “territorial integrity” and abstained from the vote, even while nodding in the direction of Russia’s legitimate security interests. And Germany, India’s ally and an ever-reluctant power, is coming out of its long European cold to turn the heat on.

Delhi has its hands full, including with the evacuation of the thousands of Indian students in Ukraine. Indian diplomats have worked the phones and buses and planes to get the process rolling. Many more students are waiting in line and it will need deft diplomacy and logistics to get them safely home — a debate on the merits of a Ukraine education or gaps in college infrastructure, which the PM touched upon, can surely wait. Getting students out is only the first in the countless challenges posed by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, not all can be handled by abstention.