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India-Russia foreign ministers' meet, April 2021
Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment
- The story: To build on the common “resilient” ground, Indian and Russian Foreign Ministers addressed each other’s concerns on a wide range of issues. The issues range from defence supplies to the S-400 air defence system, India’s role in Afghanistan and Taliban’s involvement in power-sharing to cooperation on Covid vaccines and India’s participation in the Quad grouping.
- Points discussed: The two discussed opportunities for economic cooperation in the Russian Far East. The 'Russian Far East' stretches from Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake, to the Pacific Ocean and comprises roughly a third of Russia’s territory. It is rich in natural resources including minerals, hydrocarbons, timber and fish, but is an economically underdeveloped region. India also spoke on leveraging the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign to boost manufacturing in India. Then came the issue of connectivity through the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multi-modal transportation established in September 2000 in St. Petersburg, by Iran, Russia and India for the purpose of promoting transportation cooperation.
- Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern maritime corridor: Its is a maritime route covering approximately 5,600 nautical miles, aimed at increasing bilateral trade between India and Russia.
- S-400 Air Defence System: Issues regarding the sale of the S-400 air defence system figured in the discussions. The S-400 Triumf is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM) designed by Russia, and is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM (MLR SAM) in the world, considered much ahead of the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD). India is keen on buying it, but the USA has expressed reservations by threatening sanctions under Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
- Views on Military Alliance and Indo-Pacific: The Russian foreign minister clarified that the Russia-China relations are at the best in the history, but these relations do not pursue a goal of establishing a military alliance. He referred to the Quad grouping and called it an “Asian NATO”, a term sometimes used by China. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) is an informal strategic dialogue between India, USA, Japan and Australia with a shared objective to ensure and support a “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region.
- Indo-Pacific: Russia and India are working for stability and connectivity in the Asia-Pacific and urged that “military alliances” should not come up in Asia. Russia referred to the formulation of “Asia Pacific” while India referred to “Indo-Pacific”.
- Afghan peace: There is a need to “harmonise” the interests of various stakeholders that are active in and around Afghanistan. The peace process should be based on foundational principles and a political solution should mean independent, sovereign, united and democratic Afghanistan. Decision on the settlement in Afghanistan should foresee the participation of all political, ethnic and religious groups in the country. Otherwise the solution will not be stable. India was not a part of a recent meeting led by Russia on Afghan peace.
- India - Russia relations: The Annual Summit meeting between the Prime Minister of India and the President of the Russian Federation is the highest institutionalized dialogue mechanism in the strategic partnership between India and Russia. The India-Russia trade, amounting to USD 10.11 billion in 2019-2020, is far below the potential. Both countries have set the bilateral trade target at USD 30 billion by 2025. The BrahMos Missile System as well as the licensed production in India of SU-30 aircraft and T-90 tanks, are examples of military cooperation. As for nuclear energy, the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) is being built in India with Russian cooperation. Cooperation in Gaganyaan program is the space dimension of this relationship.
- Common Multilateral Forums: BRICS, Russia-India-China Grouping RIC, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Military Exercises - Exercise TSENTR 2019, Indra Exercises - Joint Tri-Services (Army, Navy, Air Force) Exercises etc.
- Summary: India engaging Russia in the Indo-Pacific narrative will be good, to make the Indo-Pacific truly “free and inclusive”. India can also promote a mutually beneficial trilateral cooperation between Russia, China, and India that could contribute towards the reduction of mistrust and suspicion between India and China.
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