A pragmatic tightrope walk

India's Ukraine move balances its principles with its interests

India’s decision to abstain, along with China and the United Arab Emirates, from a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a pragmatic move to balance principles against interests within limited options for diplomatic manoeuvre available to it. Given that abstinence cannot be interpreted to imply support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the move has enabled New Delhi to maintain its long-standing diplomatic stance on respecting territorial sovereignty without compromising a seven-decade legacy of relations with Russia. There are hard-nosed calculations involved since the bulk of India’s armed forces rely on Russian weaponry, so New Delhi