NEW DELHI—India’s refusal to criticize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine has meant the country has had to walk a diplomatic tightrope balancing relations with its traditional partner Russia and its core partner in the Indo-Pacific, the United States. The most important and immediate consequence of this diplomatic posture resulted in ensuring rescue efforts for some 20,000 stranded Indian students from Ukraine who experts said were at risk of being taken as hostages by militias that form part of the Ukrainian forces. Early in February, when it became clear that Russia would invade Ukraine after the Beijing Winter Olympics, these militias, which are violently Russophobic, such as the Azov Battalion, often stopped non-whites who were not citizens of NATO member states from boarding buses and trains to safer destinations, said Madhav Nalapat, the Vice-Chair of the Manipal Advanced Research Group. Azov Battalion was a volunteer Ukrainian militia fighting Russian separatists …