India abstain many times in the United Nations on the issue of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It has many reasons.

• Russia is a traditional friend of India since our Independence. We can see how the Russian revolution of 1970 influenced and give inspiration to our nationalist and socialistic vision of Nehru as a planned economy.

• The relationship between India and Russia is not just limited to weapon supplies or trade but also this relationship maintain the regional balance of power, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. If India use the sanction policy as Germany and other European countries are doing then it may be possible that Russia tilted itself toward China and maybe in further time also with Pakistan which is not in our nation's interest.

• Indian progressive of all hues saw Russia as a natural ally in building modern India. After Independence, Moscow was for long seen as a positive factor in India's geopolitical and security calculus.

As the way forward, the Indian political class need to separate its enormous goodwill for Russia from Putin's self-destructive imperial project in Europe. India has long historical ties of about beyond 75 years with Russia not the same with Vladimir Putin. India does not stand with Putin who is on the disastrous path of the war with Ukraine but at the same time, India's reason to abstention from UNSC is its past relationship with Russia. To condemn Putin, India needs to make pressure on Russia to leave this disruptive route and transit itself to solve this problem by pragmatic dialogue or by using diplomacy.

Kanksha Gupta from Jaipur