Much of the World is Shrugging off War in Ukraine

 By Henry Srebrnik, [Moncton, NB] Times & Transcript

In Canada, reaction to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has reached a fever pitch. It almost feels as if we ourselves are at war with Russia.

The non-NATO countries of the world, outside Europe and North America, have a less emotional point of view and this has elicited not a fraction of the rage directed by the western countries against Moscow.

In Asia, for example, the reaction has been far more mixed. China has refused to call the Russian assault an invasion, and in Vietnam, the Russian president is being affectionately referred to as “Uncle Putin.” Vietnam refrained from singling Russia out as an aggressor, and instead called on “all relevant parties to exercise restraint.”

Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has called Putin his “favorite hero.” Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ruling generals have supported Russia’s actions as “the right thing to do.”

India abstained from a UN Security Council resolution Feb. 25 to condemn the attack. New Delhi is the world’s second-largest importer of Russian arms.

Russia has often voted to support India in international forums, including refraining from criticism of its nuclear weapons tests in the 1990s. Moscow has also repeatedly used its veto power at the Security Council to block resolutions critical of India over Kashmir. Indian officials may even help Russia find workarounds for the new sanctions by setting up rupee accounts to continue trade with Moscow.

“This particular decision is a product of the geopolitical circumstances that India is looking at this point in time,” remarked Happymon Jacob, who teaches at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

He described India’s situation in its immediate region as a “claustrophobia” that would get worse if India angered Russia. Chinese troops have been building up on the Indian border in the Himalayas.

“Whose side is India on?” asked Pankaj Saran, India’s former ambassador to Russia. “We are on our side.”

“Indonesia does not see Russia as a threat to global politics or as a foe,” said Dinna Prapto Raharja, an associate professor in international relations at Bina Nusantara University in Jakarta. “Unilateral sanctions limit the chance for negotiation and heightens the sense of insecurity to the affected countries,” she added.

Om Feb. 24 Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, maintained that the country had no intention of imposing sanctions against Moscow, arguing it would “not blindly follow the steps taken by another country.”

Singapore has strongly opposed the Ukrainian invasion. Even so, “I don’t think we will shun Russia,” indicated Bilahari Kausikan, Singapore’s former ambassador to Russia. “It is still a big country and is a nuclear weapons state.” It is also a permanent member of the Security Council, a status that is unlikely to change, he added.

As the crisis with Ukraine intensified, Putin also began courting Latin American leaders. The effects of the sanctions on Russia’s banking system will likely affect Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Energy, military and agricultural sectors could suffer the most.

Putin recently spoke to Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega, for the first time since 2014. He also called the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba.

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela met with Yuri Borisov, the deputy prime minister of Russia, in Caracas in mid-February. Russian energy companies and banks have been instrumental in allowing Venezuela to continue exporting oil.

Putin hosted the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez, who vowed to reduce his country’s reliance on the United States, and he met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who expressed “solidarity” for Russia while on a visit to Moscow.

At the United Nations General Assembly on March 2, Cuba, El Salvador and Nicaragua abstained on the vote denouncing Russian aggression

“Vladimir Putin views Latin America as still an important area for the United States,” said Vladimir Rouvinski, a professor at Icesi University in Cali, Colombia. “So this is reciprocity for what is happening in Ukraine.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry contends that Latin America “was and remains for us a region of political goodwill, economic opportunity, cultural closeness and a similar mentality.” Russia never participated in colonizing the region, in exploiting the peoples that populate it, or in any conflicts, wars or other uses of force, it said.