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Letters | India has every reason – and right – to avoid taking sides in Russia-Ukraine war
- Readers discuss India’s precarious position as a strategic partner of both the US and Russia, and the possible implications of war in Europe for the Asia-Pacific
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In 1971, the US precipitously sided with Islamabad in Pakistan’s disastrous 13-day war with India, leading to New Delhi’s increased reliance on Russian weapons.
A similar move by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to support the likewise democratically elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may backfire in prompting Moscow to sell more weapons to China than to India (“As Russia wages war on Ukraine, how long can India stay above the fray?”, March 13).
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Paradoxically, India can choose the Chinese renminbi as a reference currency to trade with Russia to bypass the US dollar. Once set in motion, the payment method will free my country from the restrictions in international money transfers imposed on it.
Besides, what our Kremlin-backed media shows from Ukraine can’t leave Indian weapon importers cold: a new laser-guided shell launched from an old cannon unerringly hitting its target 25km away. Watching it, I personally feel like in 1975 when North Vietnamese troops were advancing to Saigon.
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Twenty-five centuries ago Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War: avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak. By siding with Pakistan 51 years ago, the US ignored this advice and by not siding with Ukraine now India is heeding it. And why not?
Mergen Mongush, Moscow
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