[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

The UN vote condemning the invasion went 141-5 (Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Syria, Eritrea) with 35 intentional abstentions (China, India most notably) and 12 that didn't vote (surprisingly including Venezuela).

Looking at the list, it's a remarkable show of unity. I don't know if that sort of thing matters to Putin.

With India, there's the persistent narrative on Twitter that middle eastern and Asian students (and Pakistan is expressing the same concern) are not being protected by Ukraine. Coinciding with the Russian claim that they are being used as human shields. Still, an abstention rather than a no vote, and, like China, they are calling for a political solution. Hopefully, there's some way to show the world that those claims are only Russian propaganda.

Unfortunately, none of this helps the Ukrainians today.

India receives a lot of military weapons from Russia, has received Russian support for their claims to Kashmir, and they fear China. So they feel anything that pushes Russia closer to China is bad for their interests in the long run.