RUSSIA – UKRAINE WAR, WHERE DOES INDIA STAND ON ITS GEOPOLITICAL PERFORMANCE

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RUSSIA – UKRAINE WAR , WHERE DOES INDIA STAND ON ITS GEOPOLITICAL PERFORMANCE

ABSTRACT 

As Russia emerges as an energy giant with most precious metals including crops , materials with vast reserves of oil and gas on a huge land – mass expanding  towards eastern Europe and northern Asia, Once the eminent republic of the U.S.S.R.; commonly known as the Soviet Union , Russia became an independent country after the dissolution of U.S.S.R.in December 1991. As a former Soviet republic Ukraine has deep social, cultural and linguistic ties with Russia and Russia would never intend to weaken its borders and territory and to permit Ukraine to join NATO ( North Atlantic Treaty Organization ) principally  headed by U.S.A. which will pose serious military and defense related issues to Russia in future , as Russia is the vast global exporter of anti – tank and air defense systems , Anti – tank Guided – Missiles (ATGM) , submarines , basic rifles with its prominent technology and India is a beneficiary too but India neither is a supporter of NATO nor desires to have a serious crisis among the two countries , India is working on a peace project with a view on harmonizing world actions and our foreign policy too is the evidence for the same . To sum up this article is based on such aftermath and analyzing aspects of the crisis that involves NATO , CSTO ( Collective Security Treaty Organization ) and all the other independent nations such as India and China that can experience serious impacts if the situation worsen.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CRISIS 

The crisis including Russia and Ukraine is not more than a conflicting situation between two major powers , instead of promoting and guiding Ukraine and assisting to help it integrating into Russia under CSTO , the west always kept this evil desire to have NATO alive and by practicing it again and again , they have deteriorating relations with Russia. Keeping that well in thoughts the crisis outset to ruin Ukraine in last week of February 2022 , there has been a huge uproar since the inauguration of this serious conflict on World Politics, Economy and Global market system. Thus far there has been no sign of progress of world diplomats across the globe to help in resolving the issues and putting an end on the crisis. There has been huge sanctions imposed on Russia including ban on Russian Banks, Russian Airlines, Russian Ships, Russian Media and the most pivotal of all the ban by European Union on import of crude oil from Russia. The invasion has its basis from the closer ties that Ukraine wants to establish with the west (Europe) & NATO , this is the major reason of this cold war that Russia never ever wants to have  a next door European neighbour or Russia do not want to have a dominance of NATO over its domain in order to loosen and weaken its centuries long sovereignty and when Russia and Ukraine both shared  similar societal values and culture back to the middle ages, they even had a shared history in the soviet union. Tracing back to soviet union times , Russia exercised an authoritative stance on Ukraine and on the Ukrainians and almost everybody who has their first language as Ukrainian , swiftly speaks and understands Russian as per Vladmir Putin Russians and Ukrainians are one people and that Ukraine is not a real country and it is “completely created” out of Russian imperial land . However, Putin  has a strong determination to solve the matter by force. It should also be noted that this is probably not the first time that the temperatures between Russia and Ukraine experienced such a rise but in 2014 and in fact prior to that also the crisis found its place to ruin the peace . In 2014 , Russia had invaded Ukraine when rebels backed by President Putin had captured large swathes of eastern Ukraine, at that time Russia had annexed Crimea. As per Ukraine , Russia had also  breached the Minsk peace accord which was signed for the purpose of bringing a hault to the armed crisis in east Ukraine. 

 

THE IIS ( IMPARTIAL &  INOFFENSIVE ) STANCE BY INDIA FROM THE BEGINNING

AS THE MEDIATOR  :  India ‘s reputation on the global stage has undoubtedly raised after PM Modi’s PM ship and as India  abstained from voting against Russia at the (UNSC) and at the (UNGA) on the issue of the Ukraine conflict clearly shows up India ‘s impartial stance and also with to a continuous contact with the whole situation on the crisis ,  well this may not come as a surprise to anyone that  we have been clearly showing up our innocent intentions to mediate between both countries . PM Modi stays intact with all the incidents and armed actions that take place each day and he is also on a telephonic touch with President Putin. We possess a free foreign policy which has a huge global credential and potential and which is often appreciated by the World and it was well evident from the fact that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met PM Modi in New Delhi recently and PM declared India ‘s readiness to contribute in any way to the peace efforts.

THE  INTOLERANT ATTITUDE BY MEA : Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar , who drew utmost credits for his statements on India’s Russian energy purchase at the instance of India- US 2+2 dialogue amid a debate over the crisis is all set to embark a new vision of modern India that has a favourable foreign policy for it citizens. The statement which expresses this  uncompromising attitude came when a reporter at a joint news conference which was addressed by our Foreign Minister , our Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh along with their American counterparts Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, after the 2+2 conclusion at Washington D.C.  asked about India ‘s oil purchase from Russia, the astute Foreign Minister said “ I noticed you refer to oil purchases . If you are looking at energy purchases from Russia, I would suggest that your attention should be focused on Europe. We do buy some energy , which is necessary for our energy security. But I suspect looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon”, seriously this is something remarkable and praiseworthy.

THE GROWING WORLD LEADER : India is genuinely transpiring as a world leader under the leadership of PM Modi as how there has been an immense change in national politics when it is searching its  place in the international politics , our PM came with a global vision in the international politics , we are no more dependent on any country for our decisions , we have a strong foreign policy which is operating in the best interests of our people. We can make decisions and probably change them for our good. 

INDIA’S PRAISE ON STRATEGIC AND GEOPOLITICAL ETHICS

  1. “ I believe that Indian foreign policies are characterized by independence and the concentration on real national legitimate interests. The same policy is based in the Russian Federation and this makes us, as big countries, good friends and loyal partners”, Sergey Lavrov on his New Delhi visit over Russian- Ukraine crisis ( Foreign Minister of Russia)
  2. This has been a huge impact of our Geopolitical ethics that the superpower U.S.A. has acceded to our decision over import of crude oil for our energy security.

“Our message to any country continues to be that abide by the sanctions that we have put in place and recommended ”,  White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news conference and that buying crude oil on a discounted rate as per Russian government’ s offer to India will not serve any violation of the American sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine. 

  1. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar “a real patriot of his country” after the latter firmly stated that India will decide its foreign policy in light of mounting pressure to cut down imports from Moscow amid the ongoing Russia- Ukraine war .

4.China ‘s newspaper Global Times has also lauded India’s stand over Russia – Ukraine issue and tweeted that “U.S. has no qualification to lecture an independent India on human rights. It’s high time U.S. stop dreaming of reducing India to its client state, stop riding its moral high horse and learn to deal with emerging powers”.

REFERENCES 

  1. https://www.britannica.com/place/Russia
  2. https://www.bloomberg.com Understanding the Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine 

3.https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/why-did-russia-invade-ukraine-the-conflict-explainned-in-5-points-2786200

4.https://www.dailypioneer.com Russia welcomes India as mediator 

  1. https://www-businesstoday-in.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.businesstoday.in/amp/latest/economy/story/indias-monthly-oil-purchase-from-russia-less-than-europes-in-an-afternoon-jaishankar-329481-2022-04-12?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16507488394972&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businesstoday.in%2Flatest%2Feconomy%2Fstory%2Findias-monthly-oil-purchase-from-russia-less-than-europes-in-an-afternoon-jaishankar-329481-2022-04-12
  2. https://carnegieendowment.org/2016/04/04/india-as-leading-power-pub-63185
  3. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/jaishankar-real-patriot-says-russia-foreign-minister-sergey-lavrov-1939343-2022-04-19

 

 

Author: Riddhi Sharma,
CHANDERPRABHU JAIN COLLEGE OF HIGHER STUDIES AND SCHOOL OF LAW , AFFILIATED TO GGSIPU , NEW DELHI , I AM CURRENTLY IN MY 5TH YEAR OF MY B.B.A.LLB

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