new delhi france wants india to play a more forceful role in the un security council on the ukraine crisis and call a spade a spade french ambassador to india emmanuel lenain said on tuesday we want india on board said lenain as the unsc discusses a draft resolution proposed by france on the humanitarian situation and civilian protection in ukraine speaking exclusively to toi lenain said while france understood and respected indias focus on autonomy russias action against ukraine was unprovoked aggression and that france hopes india to be more forceful in the next phases of unsc meetings he said that india being a powerful voice in the council it is of utmost importance that in the upcoming meetings its vote matches its wordsindia has so far abstained from all 6 ukrainerelated votes in various un bodies and while it has called for respecting the un charter international law sovereignty and territorial integrity also refrained from condemning russias special military operationlenain said france had kept room for dialogue with russia as evident from the fact that president emmanuel macrons has spoken to his russian counterpart vladimir putin 11 times in the past month or so while defending sanctions imposed on russia as important to ensure russia changes its behaviour frances nuanced position is in line with its own strategic autonomy that has seen macron emphasising on the need for eu to reduce its reliance on the uswe are like india we are attached to our autonomy and like making decisions on our own we fully respect and understand that india does the same but when there is aggression you have to call a spade a spade we dont think its a conflict between 2 countries its a war of aggression by a nondemocratic state against democracy without any provocation at all there were no nato forces in ukraine and there was no plan to integrate ukraine into nato said the ambassador adding france respects the courage displayed by the ukrainian people and president zelenskyymany many countries have understood that russian aggression its clear from the overwhelming vote in the unga condemning russias aggression we want indian on board said lenain adding that france and eu expect partners to uphold the values on which their relationships are based france currently holds eus rotating presidency and remains one of indias closest strategic partners not just in europe but also the indopacific where france is a resident power he said france is not at war with russia and that it has longstanding ties with the people of russialenain expressed hope that the ongoing discussions in the unsc on the resolution for humanitarian assistance to ukraine will be able to find the best balance to garner support from as many partners as possible this is significant as the resolution has been delayed apparently because the us wanted it to explicitly hold russia responsible for creating the humanitarian crisis unfolding in ukraine while india may be tempted to vote in favour with