The Third Eye: Putin’s India visit adds to geopolitical balance

MOSCOW: The India-Russia summit for which Vladimir Putin made his first visit to India since the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia military conflict, went beyond the traditional focus on long-standing defence and strategic partnership to highlight economic and trade-related relations.

The visit of Russian President is also to be seen in the backdrop of Western powers- particularly the US- pushing India to cut down on its oil import from Russia on the plea that it would discourage Russia from keeping up the Ukraine conflict.

Prime Minister Modi’s observation that ‘elevating our economic cooperation with Russia to new heights is a shared priority’ was in a way India’s counter to the ‘tariff pressure’ put on this country by US President Donald Trump.

At a media interaction after his talks with Putin, Prime Minister Modi stated that ‘India-Russia friendship had remained steady like a guiding star over the past eight decades’ in spite of many global ups and downs as it was built on ‘ mutual respect and deep trust’.

President Putin highlighted the agreements that were concluded to broaden economic cooperation and added that the two countries were ‘ important partners’ in trade, investment and technologies. An Economic Cooperation Programme was initiated to carry the trade between India and Russia from the current 68 billion dollars to 100 billion by 2030 and the Prime Minister expressed confidence that this would be achieved even before that deadline. That economic and commercial ties took centre stage at the India-Russia summit was clearly in evidence.

In the context of US sanctions on Russian energy firms, Putin pledged to continue the successful partnership, saying that Russia would remain ‘a reliable supplier of oil, gas,coal and everything for the development of India’s energy’ and stated that Russia was ready to ‘continue uninterrupted shipments of fuel for the fast-growing Indian economy’. Putin was implicitly urging India to disregard US tariff pressure.

Describing energy security as a vital pillar of the bilateral partnership, Prime Minister Modi announced that cooperation in civil nuclear energy will also be carried forward for its importance in advancing clean energy priorities. Amidst fresh efforts of the US to find a peaceful solution of the war in Ukraine, Prime Minister conveyed to Putin India’s support for all efforts aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement of the conflict and added that India will always be ready to contribute to this process. He affirmed that ‘India was not neutral but was on the side of peace’.

Putin significantly remarked that ‘Russia was taking steps with partners including US in search of a possible peaceful settlement’ and thanked the Prime Minister for ‘devoting attention to the matter and joining the efforts to find a solution’. However, the Ukraine crisis did not find mention in the joint statement which did express concern at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and called on all parties to abide by agreements for cessation of conflict, humanitarian assistance and a sustainable peace.

India and Russia concluded several pacts in a number of crucial sectors such as mobility, migration and shipping. One got the impression that President Putin felt easy about discussing the Ukraine conflict and made a mention of the effort of US possibly because there is a certain bonhomie between him and Donald Trump and also because Trump was seen to be exercising pressure on President Zelensky of Ukraine to yield to Russia on territorial issues.

India and Russia agreed to establish a framework for movement of skilled workers from India to Russia and promote safe and mutually beneficial migration. Russia’s labour needs have risen constantly and these could be met in part by skilled Indian workers specially in IT,construction and engineering. India announced the grant of free 30-day employment-tourist visas for Russian nationals on reciprocal basis. All in all, as Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a press briefing, economic cooperation was the ‘driving impulse’ of Putin’s visit. He gave out that for expanding bilateral trade ‘regulatory impediments’ would be swiftly addressed and Indian exports in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture and marine products would be boosted to correct the trade imbalance.

The issue of terrorism figured prominently in the discussions at the annual summit and in the joint statement issued after the meeting both sides declared that they believed in a ‘zero tolerance policy’ on terror. Prime Minister Modi stated that India and Russia stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against terrorism and pointed out that ‘whether it is the terror attack in Pahalgam or the cowardly attack at Crocus City Hall at Moscow, the root of all such incidents is the same’. It may be mentioned that the attack in J&K was carried out by The Resistance Front (TRF) - a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkaree Toiba while the assault on the Russian music venue was claimed by ISIS-K which has a base on Pak-Afghanistan border.

The joint statement said ‘all acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation by any religious or ideological pretexts’. The two leaders backed concerted action against all UN- listed terror groups and entities including Al Qaeda, Islamic State and their affiliates- aimed at rooting out terrorist safe havens and eliminating terrorist financing channels. Counter-terrorism unites all major powers including India, US and Russia as Islamic radicalisation is seen as a common threat to them all.

India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has rightly summed up the outcome of Putin’s visit to India for a bilateral summit by saying that it reflected India’s freedom of choice and policy of strategic autonomy- in the context of pressure from the US to reduce purchases of Russian oil and military hardware. He gave out that the summit had resulted in a five year economic programme to diversify and balance trade, a mobility agreement and measures to deepen energy partnership. He reiterated that India-Russia ties had been among the steadiest big-power relationships and pointing out that India had relations with all major countries including the US, added that ‘ it is not reasonable for any country to expect to have a veto’ on how New Delhi developed its relationships.

Jaishankar further observed that Putin’s visit was in many ways for ‘reimagining the relationship’ as economic ties had not kept pace with defence and strategic collaboration. He noted that trade had become central to the thinking in Washington under the Trump Presidency- much more than it was in earlier administrations-which India recognised and this is the reason why it got into negotiations with US to find ‘a landing ground for our respective trade interests’. Clearly India has exercised its sovereign right to maintain bilateral relationship with both Russia and US in a manner that best served the national interests of the country. In the process both India and Russia have gained from Putin’s visit.