Russia-Ukraine Conflict and Indian Policy Dilemma

Whenever there is a conflict between two major powers, the rest of the world is supposed to adopt a clear stance. Some prefer to take a side, while some tend to remain neutral, which is quite implausible in the contemporary geopolitical scenarios.

The Russia-Ukraine confrontation has brought the world to the same crossroad where every member of the international community whether directly involved in the conflict or not has to clarify its stance. However, the conflict has also exposed major policy dilemmas in many countries, especially India.

The country has long been indulged in defence cooperation with Russia and at the same time remained a key ally of the US, especially when it comes to the US’s urge to cultivate India as a counter-weight against the expanding influence of China in the region.

The Russia-Ukraine war bringing Russia into the crosshairs of the US and its allies has also put India in an ordeal, a policy junction where it has to choose between longstanding defence ties with Russia and its key strategic alignment with the United States.

Though every country has a right to formulate its foreign policy to maintain its ties with other members of the international community with an intent to serve its national interest in the best way possible, India seems confused, and utterly failed to maintain a balanced approach to save its partnership with either of its allies.

Be it Indian media, or the government, both are following a completely different trajectory in this particular matter, one thing that needs to be considered is, that the Indian media is highly influenced by the incumbent BJP government that uses media as a tool to further its nationalist and fundamentalist policies.

Absurdly, the Ukraine war is being portrayed and celebrated as a fete by Indian media where 24/7 marathon transmissions were aired enthusiastically including silly ground reporting and laughable visual graphics. Indian media bluntly celebrated Russian losses in the war and sided with Ukraine and US/ NATO allies declaring Putin as a chauvinistic dictator. The biasedness of the Indian media during the Russia-Ukraine conflict has exasperated Russian authorities as well.

In a Tweet, the Russian envoy to India expressed his grave concerns over biased Indian media reporting on Ukraine’s war and stressed that the Indian media should provide honest and objective information to their citizens regarding the Ukraine crisis.

The Indian government, on the other hand, tried to showcase false impartiality, while condemning the war and appealing to warring parties to observe restraint. But precisely, it is not the actual case.

Despite the US’ irk, India continues to purchase Russian defence equipment, recently India has received simulators and training equipment for the S-400 Air Defense Missile System from Russia and also aspiring delivery of 2nd regiment of S-400 by the end of this month under the 2018 deal that enabled India and Russia to lock the contract worth Rs 38000 crore for five regiments of S-400 Missile Defence Systems. All five S-400 systems will be transported to India by the end of 2023.

India has also purchased more than twice as much crude oil at discounted rates from Russia in the two months since its invasion of Ukraine as it did in the whole of 2021. Some media reports also suggest that Indian refiners have ordered nearly 40 million barrels of Russian oil in the last two months since the war began.

This duplicity of Indian policy has compelled the US to think about sanctioning India under the ‘Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA)’ amid mounting pressure on the US government from many powerful Senators. The US has already imposed CAATSA sanctions against Turkey for purchasing the same Russian S-400.

After Lavrov visits India, a visiting US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh, said India should not expect Russia to come to its defence if China violates the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and in a veiled threat to India, he further added that there will be consequences for countries attempting to circumvent American sanctions against Russia. The Ukrainian envoy to India also expressed his disquietude over India’s vague policy in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war.

According to James Crabtree, Executive Director at the International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia, India has been caught in a trap, as it needs Russian weaponry to deal with the Chinese threat, at the same time it wants to remain in the good books of the United States. So, India decided to be an opportunist and wear two hats at the same time.

By playing this double game, projecting itself as neutral in an official capacity, and augmenting the anti-Russian narrative through its warmongering media outlets that are undoubtedly a reverberator of Indian state policies, India is playing wolf in sheep’s clothing that is trying to achieve its malicious interests out of war situation in the guise of a so-called secular and democratic state committed to a liberal international order.