Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time since the Russian leader launched an all-out attack on Ukraine Russia President of Vladimir Putin has arrived in Russia for his first one-to-one summit meeting with
After being sworn in as Prime Minister for his third term Modi It is the choice of a highly symbolic destination for the first bilateral visit and one that the Kremlin has expressed delight in making the West ‘envious’.
Modi is also breaking with the tradition of Indian prime ministers usually making their first government visit to neighboring South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives or Bhutan.
And this is a reflection of Russia’s growing confidence in India’s ability to play a role in both the Eastern and Western divisions The war once morest Ukraine has grown dramatically since inception.
Modi will visit Austria following his visit to Moscow, which has supported Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union and provided it with hundreds of millions of euros in humanitarian aid.
Putin and Modi were due to hold informal talks over dinner on Monday night, a day before their meeting on Tuesday.
India The foreign ministry said they would discuss ‘a number of geopolitical challenges facing the world’, and that the visit showed the two countries were benefiting from ‘stable’ ties.
As he boarded a plane for Russia on Monday, Modi said he would review “all aspects of bilateral cooperation” with President Putin and try to play a “supportive role for a peaceful and stable region”.
According to the Kremlin, Putin, who is trying hard to justify his war by showing support for his allies and countering Western efforts to portray him internationally as an untouchable, said: ‘Any topic can be discussed in the meeting’ between the two leaders.
The Indian government has neither condemned nor supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and when Modi made his first foreign trip of his third term to attend the G7 in Italy last month, he visited Switzerland. It did not participate in the Western-led Ukraine peace summit hosted by the West.
India was represented at these talks by its ambassador and did not sign the joint declaration at the end of the meeting, insisting that Russia should join the talks.
Harsh V Pant, professor of international relations at King’s College London, told The Independent that a Putin-Modi meeting was “long overdue” given the way the geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting as a result of Ukraine.
India-Russia relations have a long history, with Delhi relying heavily on Moscow for arms imports for decades.
Since the war in Ukraine began, India has also bought large quantities of cheap Russian oil following sanctions were imposed by the US and European countries, helping Putin finance his war.
Still, India is worried regarding how close Putin has become to its arch-Asian rival China, with which it has frosty border relations.
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Due to Moscow’s military deployments in Ukraine, India has also stopped buying Russian weapons and is buying more weapons from the US, Israel, France and Italy.
“This discussion will be regarding how to develop India-Russia relations because, whatever it may seem, they are not as good as they seem,” says Pant. This is a new world. India does not have a strong economic partnership with Russia. So of course the strategic realities are changing. India wants to understand Russia and negotiate with it on its own terms.’
With this visit, India is giving a clear signal to the US that it will pursue other options for defense purchases, just as the US is once once more opening its doors to China.
Dr. Rafiq Dosani, senior economist at the RAND Corporation think tank, told The Independent that ‘the potential benefits for India from this meeting are significant compared to Russia’s.’
“By taking the right steps, he can present himself as a more important power than China, whose relations with Europe have been damaged by his own stance,” he said. This might give India an opportunity to become the main mediator of peace in Ukraine.’
He says India will try to maintain a steady supply of Russian energy as it seeks to end dependence on the volatile Middle East market and other sources such as Venezuela.
Analysts say India will also gain reassurance when it comes to arms cooperation as the Indian Army still uses a large amount of Russian hardware.
“Defence cooperation will clearly be a priority area,” says Chetgaj Bajpai, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House. “We have found some delays in the supply of spare parts … following the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said. I believe that the two countries are regarding to conclude a military logistics agreement, which will pave the way for further defense exchanges.’
For Russia, the outward results of the visit are likely to be more important than any tangible results. In addition to several recent meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Russian president has visited North Korea and then Vietnam to present himself as a world leader who still enjoys international support.
Pant insists that Modi’s visit to Moscow is the most significant achievement of the campaign so far, as India is a counterweight to China in the Asia-Pacific region and also has strong ties with the West.
Pant explained that Putin’s efforts to interest India indicate that Russia wants to demonstrate that it is not affected by Western isolation and wants to maintain its independence in relations with China.
“I don’t think Russia wants to be seen as China’s junior partner. By negotiating with India, Russia is signaling to China that it wants to maintain its independence. As Russia becomes increasingly isolated from the West, there is a danger that it will come to be seen as subordinate to China, a perception it may want to avoid.’
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2024-07-09 17:13:38
