“It’s the first time a Russian delegation arrived in India in such huge numbers. I can point out representatives of the economic bloc of the Russian government. We could see ministers from financial bloc, from the banking sector. It’s an indication of growing interest from the Russian side to expand trade and economic cooperation.”
Dr Aleksei Zakharov, Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation based here, closely monitored the two-day visit of President Vladimir Putin to Delhi. As he said during a conversation on The Gist:
“Russia has rediscovered India as a huge market, as an economic partner, as a country of many opportunities. And I think that Russia has been trying to adapt, to explore the Indian market, to learn how to operate here, and to find new partners.”
He believes that the purpose of the Modi-Putin summit was to identify new areas because the India-Russia relationship was too dependent on defence and energy. The two countries have made strides in nuclear power with the Kudankulam project, but there was a need to find new glue to keep ties moving forward.
Western sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine have added to Moscow’s sense of urgency. It does not want to depend entirely on China. In that sense, India provides opportunities and a vast market for raw materials of various kinds, agricultural products, and chemicals.
Dr Zakharov made another point: “this visit produced really scarce details when it comes to defense cooperation. We know the defense ministers met, they held extensive discussions on the wide gamut of topics … but the press release is very vague.”
That lack of detail probably flows from a determination made by India not to provoke the Americans with details of defence deals being signed with the Russians.
But Dr Zakharov believes that India is interested in the Pantsir air defence system and the Voronezh early warning radar. The latter is already with the Chinese and Moscow possibly sees the need to balance that by also giving it to India.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Dr Aleksei Zakharov, Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
Thirty eight years in journalism, widely travelled, history buff with a preference for Old Monk Rum. Current interest/focus spans China, Technology and Trade. Recent reads: Steven Colls Directorate S and Alexander Frater's Chasing the Monsoon. Netflix/Prime video junkie. Loves animal videos on Facebook. Reluctant tweeter.
