Thus, both Moscow and New Delhi are looking for mutually beneficial options to resist US pressures without becoming overly dependent on China. India, for its part, wants Russia to not get any closer to Pakistan and support New Delhi’s ambitions in Afghanistan. Russia wants India on its side to resist US moves that are detrimental to Moscow’s interests. Here Russia could be useful because it is opposed to India toeing the US line in the Asia-Pacific and on the global stage. But Kashmir, among other issues, is an obstacle to greater India-US strategic cooperation. India is not averse to the role of a leading or balancing power, with US backing, in the Indo-Pacific. Trump’s “offer” is more of a threat, calculated to keep India away from Russia and China, and as a US spearhead in the Indo-Pacific to contain China. While China is backing “all-weather friend” Pakistan, US President Donald Trump keeps offering to mediate in the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir. This suits India particularly at a juncture when Kashmir has, among other issues, become a diplomatic albatross. Energy, defence and space cooperation would greatly benefit Russia, raise its strategic clout in the region, and enable it to somewhat foil US designs while balancing its ties with China. Having India as a major buyer, investor and economic partner would help Russia to partially offset the economic effect of sanctions, which is made worse by falling oil prices in the world market. So far China has netted the biggest gains from gaps created by western sanctions against Russia. Much as Russia and India want to resist the West’s pressures, on the rebound, neither wants China to get the better of them in the region.Īlso Read | PM Modi’s Vladivostok Visit Strengthens India-Russia Ties Through Indo-Pacific Frame While Russia is hit by US-led sanctions, India’s ties with the P-5 and West have come under the ominous shadow of developments in Kashmir. In the 21st century, bilateral ties are essentially transactional bereft of ideology, bound together by common interests, fears, strengths and weaknesses rooted in geopolitical compulsions, economic pursuits and security concerns.īoth India and Russia are under pressure from the West, particularly the Anglo-American axis. The all-encompassing India-Russian friendship across a range of sectors and activities reinforced by strength of people-to-people relationship is a thing of the past. If one is to sum up in a single sentence what India and Russia are striving for, it would be: New initiatives that could help both countries leverage their advantages and synergise their strengths to jointly resist, if not overcome, the constraints and challenges posed by other countries especially the US, the UK, the European Union and China. This is what happened during the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Russian port city of Vladivostok on September 4-5 for a summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

And, the dazzle of events and optics, as is the wont in any political romance, take the focus away from tangible outcomes. The reasons for their diplomatic bonding and evolving personal chemistry may be many. The Modi-Putin relationship is, perhaps, the most fascinating of India’s external “affairs”.

Once more with love