India and China stay on sidelines as Russia invades Ukraine

New Delhi protects Moscow relations despite risk to its Quad standing

20220224 From left, Narendra Modi, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping

From left: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit in July 2018 in South Africa.  © AP

KIRAN SHARMA and KEN MORIYASU, Nikkei staff writers

NEW DELHI/TOKYO -- As Russia and the West face off on Ukraine in perhaps the biggest crisis on the European continent since World War II, the globe's two largest emerging powers, China and India, have remained largely on the sidelines.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov by phone that while China always respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, it sees "a complex and unique historical context" on the Ukraine issue and understands Russia's legitimate concerns on security issues.

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