Seven days after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine - labelling it a "special military operation" - the United Nations General Assembly voted at an emergency session in New York to demand an immediate halt to the incursion.
The resolution was approved by 141 countries.
Five nations — Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria — voted against it, while 38 countries abstained from voting, including India and China.
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The two countries had also sat out voting on a resolution a week earlier on the Ukraine crisis.
But Lowy Institute research fellow Teesta Prakash points out the West has so far refused to publicly call out India.
Professor Prakash says India's non-committal stance on Russia isn't surprising.
"In 2020, when the Myanmar coup happened, India also remained quiet. And that's largely because India has always been non-aligned – it views these kinds of matters as the country's internal matters and doesn't comment on these issues. While it is a democracy, and perhaps the biggest one by virtue of its population (size), India has never been a democracy promoter."
While China denies endorsing the invasion, Professor Blaxland says its behaviour cannot be compared to India's.
"China's role as a facilitator for Putin's confidence to attack is much more significant than India's. Putin did not come to Delhi to seek support for the war in Ukraine. He went to Beijing. We would be kidding ourselves if we believe there wasn’t a frank discussion between Putin and Xi about the prospect of a neat and tidy and short decapitation of the Ukrainian government by the Russian Spetsnaz special forces".
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