New Delhi: Diplomatically, India is in a major cusp. It has been called out by its traditionally close ally Russia to decide its stand as far as global geo-strategy and positioning goes. And Russia couldn’t have been more blunt in its asking India to choose who it wants to align with.
On Friday, India did come out with a tepid official response that by no means indicates clarity of stand. MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had said: “India has always pursued an independent foreign policy based on its national interest. India’s relationship with each country is independent of its relations with third countries. We hope that this is well understood and appreciated by all our partners.”
But will Russia understand and appreciate?
The Indian reaction was in response to what Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. “India is currently an object of the Western countries’ persistent, aggressive and devious policy as they are trying to engage it in anti-China games by promoting Indo-Pacific strategies, the so-called ‘Quad’, while at the same time the West is attempting to undermine our close partnership and privileged relations with India,” Lavrov said.
Taking potshots at the US-led Indo-Pacific front and the fledgling ‘Quad’, India is being pushed into a corner.
Via Russia
Amid the eight-month-long India-China standoff at various border points along eastern Ladakh, Russia had been quietly working to bring India and China together. Not overtly but very subtly.
The three countries India, China and Russia are already members of several growing multilateral platforms including the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), Shanghai Organisation Cooperation (SCO) and G20.
It accords Russia a space to mediate between the Asian giants. The mediating role is already believed to have figured in a top-secret Russian plan that was approved by President Vladimir Putin on November 13 that lays down ways on how Russia will face external and internal challenges in the 2021-2015 period.
It includes a peace brokering role in Chinese-Indian and Indian-Pakistani conflicts so as to boost Russia’s international image and prestige.
Military platforms
Besides geostrategic reasons for Russia to get more clarity on the Indian stand, Russia wants to ensure the weapons and military platforms it supplies India won’t be integrated with American weapons and military systems as it would mean Russian military tech know-how falling into US hands.
