Putin to land in India with eye on military, energy ties
NEW DELHI (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in India on Monday (Dec 6) for just his second overseas trip since the pandemic, seeking to bolster military and energy ties with a traditional ally being courted by Washington.
In its efforts to address a rising China, the United States has set up the Quad security dialogue with India, Japan, and Australia, raising concerns in both Beijing and Moscow.
India was close to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, a relationship that has endured, with New Delhi calling it a “special and privileged strategic partnership”.
“The friendship between India and Russia has stood the test of time,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Mr Putin at a virtual summit in September. “You have always been a great friend of India.”
It is the Russian leader’s only second trip abroad since the coronavirus pandemic began – he skipped both the Group of 20 summit and COP26 climate summit this year – after a June meeting with US President Joe Biden in Geneva.
“It’s hugely symbolic,” said Mr Nandan Unnikrishnan from the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank.
“It’s indicative how they do not want the relationship to stagnate or slow down for want of something from the Russian side,” he said.
But Mr Putin has to contend with complex regional dynamics, with tensions mounting between India and Russia’s traditional ally China following deadly clashes in a disputed Himalayan region.
“Russia’s influence in the region is very limited, mostly because of its close ties with China and unwillingness to act in dissonance with the Chinese regional interests,” said Dr Tatiana Belousova of O.P. Jindal Global University in India’s Haryana state.
The Kremlin said last week the talks will be dominated by defence and energy issues, with the boss of Russian energy giant Rosneft, Dr Igor Sechin, also travelling because a “number of important energy agreements” are on the table.
Russia has long been a key arms supplier to India, which is looking to modernise its armed forces, and one of their most high-profile current contracts is for the long-range S-400 ground-to-air missile defence system.
The deal, worth more than US$5 billion (S$6.9 billion), was signed in 2018 and deliveries have reportedly begun, but it threatens to upend the burgeoning relationship between New Delhi and Washington.
The US has threatened sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which is aimed at reining in Russia, and the US State Department said last week that no decisions had been made on any waivers for India.
“It is quite remarkable that India still decided to go ahead with the S-400 deal, despite the US disapproval,” said Dr Belousova.
New Delhi has long sought to diversify its military imports but analysts believe it could take some time before it moves away from Russia.
Military equipment was paramount to India, given unabated tensions with Pakistan, according to Mr Unnikrishnan. “You’re going to try and nurture whatever is required to ensure that.”
India is also keen to increase domestic production and has launched a joint venture with Russia to manufacture AK-203 assault rifles.
India and Russia normally hold annual summits, but the leaders’ last in-person meeting was on the sidelines of the 2019 Brics summit in Brazil – an alliance of the five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“The leaders will review the state and prospects of bilateral relations and discuss ways to further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries,” India’s ministry of external affairs said last month of the meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Putin.
The two countries’ foreign and defence ministers will also hold talks on Monday.
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