India’s abstention from the Security Council vote on Ukraine is widely read as a play to balance ties with Moscow and Washington and engaging “both sides of the fence”, rather than of being a “fence-sitter”.
The vote was a procedural one on whether to discuss the situation in Eastern Europe, where Moscow accuses NATO of attempting to expand its membership, and the U.S. and other NATO countries accuse Russia of amassing troops to invade Ukraine. Russia lost the vote, winning support only from China, while managing abstentions only from India, Gabon and Kenya.
