Guwahati: Russia on Friday said it expects support from India at the UN Security Council when the global body takes up a crucial resolution on the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
Russia’s Charge d’affaires, Roman Babushkin, stated that India has a thorough grasp of the factors that led to the current situation in Ukraine, and that Moscow expects continuous support from New Delhi in line with the two countries’ special and privileged strategic alliance.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote on Friday evening on a draught resolution on Russia’s military operation in Ukraine as well as the escalating situation in the eastern European country.
Babushkin told PTI that he expects India to back Russia at the UN Security Council.
The draught resolution is set to condemn in the strongest terms Russia’s military operation in Ukraine that has triggered strong outrage among the Western powers.
The Russian envoy praised India’s attitude and highlighted to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remarks three days earlier in Paris that the issue in Ukraine is rooted in post-Soviet politics and the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“India has taken a fairly balanced and autonomous stance. We appreciate it, and we continue to expect India’s support in accordance with the two nations’ special and privileged strategic alliance,” Babushkin added.
When questioned about India’s view on the draught UN Security Council resolution on the Ukraine crisis at a press conference on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said India has seen it and that New Delhi’s attitude will be determined by the final shape of the text.
“It would, according to what I’ve heard, go through a lot of alterations. We’ll wait to see how the resolution turns out before announcing ourselves and our stance on the matter “said the foreign secretary.
According to the Russian Charge d’Affaires, Russia has been in frequent contact with India regarding recent developments in Ukraine.
“We’re keeping all lines of communication open with India, and it has a good knowledge of the situation,” he said.
In the midst of the worsening situation in Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with President Vladimir Putin over the phone on Thursday, appealing for a stop to the violence and urging all parties to return to the path of diplomatic engagement.
Putin detailed the core evaluations of Ukraine’s “aggressive acts” against civilians in Donbas, as well as the many years of “destructive strategy” aimed at violating the Minsk agreements, according to a Russian readout.
In a phone discussion with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Jaishankar emphasised the importance of dialogue and diplomacy in dealing with the problem.
Babushkin claimed that Western powers and the current Ukrainian government were to blame for Russia’s actions against Ukraine because they ignored Russia’s security concerns as well as the legitimate interests of the people of Ukraine’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR).