Why telling Russia to abandon war is in India’s interest

Source: The post is based on the article “Why telling Russia to abandon war is in India’s interest” published in the Indian Express on 24^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.

Relevance: Russian war and India’s defence capability.

News: Russian President has taken a decision for “partial mobilisation”. Russia aims to mobilize as many as 3 lakh reservists — individuals who have completed their mandatory conscript service.

What does India say to Russia about war?

Recently, the Indian Prime Minister met the Russian President on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Samarkand in Uzbekistan. He stressed that today’s era is not of war, but an era of democracy, diplomacy and dialogue.

Indian PM said, “It is not for revenge against the West, or for opposing the West against the East. It is a collective time for our sovereign equal states to cope together with challenges we face.””

Days later, the French President and US National Security Advisor(NSA) supported Modi’s comments and asked the Russian President to end the war on Ukraine immediately. The US NSA even said that All countries should follow the principle of the Indian PM.

View of China on the Ukraine crisis: For the first time, China signalled in SCO meeting that it is seeking to distance itself from Russian actions. This might weaken the Russia-China axis, which has been a worry for the West, particularly for India.

Why Russia wants mobilisation, and what are the challenges faced by Russian defence production?

US institute of war has said that “partial mobilization…reflected many problems Russia faces in its faltering invasion of Ukraine that Moscow is unlikely to be able to resolve in the coming months”. It also predicted that the “mobilization will not deprive Ukraine of the opportunity to liberate more of its occupied territory into and through the winter.”

Why does India want Russia to end its war?

India is dependent on Russia for 60 to 70% of its defence requirements, and Russian arms supplies are under severe stress due to war. This resulted in the delay in Russian arms supply to India and Russia started using dated pieces of equipment in Russian devices.

This is a cause of worry for India as India still has “two friction points” along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and a stalemate at Depsang plains and at Charding La nullah in Demchok.

For the third winter, India mobilised about 60,000 troops along the India-China border. So, ending the war in Ukraine is India’s high priority as well.