'Make love, not war': Russian-born man and Ukrainian woman tie knot in India

"Make love, not war," urged a couple who recently got married in a beautiful city Dharamshala, which is in Himachal Pradesh-the northern Indian state.

India-based news agency ANI reported that amid the ongoing war between Moscow and Kyiv, a Russian-born man and a Ukrainian woman tied the knot and urged the countries to "make love, not war".

After performing marriage rituals as per Hindu tradition a month ago, Alona Burmaka, a 28-year-old Ukrainian woman, and Sergey Novikov, a 37-year-old man born in Russia registered their marriage in Dharamshala on Monday under the Special Marriage Act of India.

While speaking to the media after their marriage was registered, they urged to end the war.

Sergey said, "We come from Israel and Ukraine. We met in Israel and have been living together for six years. About a year ago we came to India and felt that this is a special place (Dharamshala) to get married by the Hindu tradition, and culture. This is not only a message for Russia and Ukraine, but this is also a message for Hindu people."

He added, "Once Russia and Ukraine were one nation, like brothers. We need to make love, not war. Violence is not good, it's not about the people, this is just the governments who are fighting. It needs to stop."

"I met Sergey in Israel and we have been together for almost six years and when we came to India, we decided to marry, to connect our souls. We like India and its culture like -- it`s very deep, nice, lovely," said Alona Burmaka, the bride.

Massive global crises emerged when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, what it calls a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" and "de-nazify" its neighbouring country and protect Russian speakers in the country.

Meanwhile, SDM Dharamshala Shilp Bekta issued the marriage registration certificate to them. Bekta said, "Under section 11 of the Special Marriage Act, a marriage was registered today. The bride is a Ukrainian citizen, while the groom is a Russian-born Israeli citizen." She added that they register around 40 per cent of marriages of foreigners in Dharamshala under the Special Marriage Act.

"From January 1 to September 5, 2022, as many as 106 marriages have been registered. Around 40 marriages are related to foreigners, that is, a foreigner marrying an Indian citizen or Tibetan refugee," she said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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