New Delhi: Days after New Delhi abstained on a US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that deplored Moscow’s “aggression” against Ukraine, the Russian government’s space agency has removed the flags of several nations from the launchers at Baikonur but kept India’s flag intact.
“The launchers at Baikonur decided that without the flags of some countries, our rocket would look more beautiful,” Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin tweeted.
The tweet has a video that shows Russian workers at the spaceport erasing the flags of other countries, including the United States and Japan.
The flag of India, however, remains untouched.
This move by the space agency shows that relationship between Russia and these nations have deteriorated.
This comes a week after Russia invaded Ukraine over the east European nation’s attempts to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
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Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine conflict.
“The leaders reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where many Indian students are stuck. They discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
With India abstaining from voting on the UNSC resolution condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian embassy in New Delhi had last week appreciated the country’s “independent and balanced position”.
“Highly appreciate India’s independent and balanced position at the voting in the UNSC on February 25, 2022. In the spirit of the special and privileged strategic partnership Russia is committed to maintain close dialogue with India on the situation around Ukraine,” Russia in India tweeted.