India's decision to abstain from UN Security Council vote based on pragmatism

India's decision to abstain from a vote at the United Nations (UN) Security Council last week to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine stemmed from a pragmatic consideration of its own security considerations, though the West is less than enthused by the move, according to panellists at the Straits Times roundtable on the war yesterday.

"It is tough to say whether it is going to regret it, but it is clearly something that they thought through very carefully before they did it," said one of the panellists, Straits Times associate editor Ravi Velloor.

One of the primary considerations was probably India's heavy reliance on Russia for the supply of weapons, said Mr Velloor, noting that a large part of the current hardware in the possession of the Indian military was Russia-made.

However, Mr Velloor said that New Delhi's calculus may boil down solely to the vote Russia holds on the UN Security Council, which has prevented arch-rival Pakistan from making their dispute over Kashmir a multilateral debate.

"The Russians have been willing to use (their veto) as many times as the Indians wanted it, and that is the most significant value of that relationship - that vote in the Security Council," said Mr Velloor.

In addition, even though India's border dispute on its eastern flank is with Moscow's close ally, Beijing, President Vladimir Putin has been more than willing to accommodate New Delhi's requests.

"Despite the Russian entente with China, when it came to the crisis in Ladakh, the Russians opened their military stores to the Indians and said, 'Come, take what you need.' China tried to stop it, it could not," said Mr Velloor.

"In the Russian mindset, there is still room for a Russia-India-China relationship, and you see that in the joint statement that it signed in Beijing when Mr Putin went to see Mr Xi Jinping. So, that is the background to that vote," he added.

In what may add to the consternation in Western capitals, India was not the only country to abstain from the Security Council vote.

"Very significantly, the United Arab Emirates also abstained, and I think you need to watch that very closely," Mr Velloor said.

Professor Kishore Mahbubani, a veteran diplomat and another panellist, said that "having the Russian veto as an ally is actually very important for India", given that the Third World country does not have a veto of its own in the Security Council.