New Delhi — Two weeks after US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin There was a video call Discuss various issues on the US-Russia agenda, including concerns of the United States and its allies about Russia sending troops to the Ukrainian border. However, just the day before the video hangout, Putin made a short trip to India for a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Radmir Romanov, Senior Officer of the Asia-Pacific International Organization and Center for Multilateral Collaborative Research at the Far East Federal University of Vladivostok, signaled Putin to be very “simple and easy to understand” by meeting Modi on 6 December. I told the Epoch Times. Biden that he can negotiate with a country that is important to the United States behind Biden.
A short summit between Putin and Modi took place hours after the first 2 + 2 dialogue between the Foreign Ministers and the Defense Ministers of both countries. In total, the two countries have signed 28 agreements, including agreements between governments in several areas, including defense.
In mid-November, Moscow also started delivering S-400s. Air defense system New Delhi purchased in 2018 for $ 5.5 billion. The first unit of this Russian defense system, deployed by China along Ladakh’s border with India, is expected to be operational in India before the New Year.
However, the procurement of the S-400 system is subject to US sanctions under the Counter-American Sanctions Act (CAATSA) already in use against Turkey and China. The acquisition of India has already led to speculation that the United States will give India an exemption from CAATSA to prevent heightened tensions between the two countries.
The Romanovs defined India as a “western influential region” and stated that these two areas of recent negotiations are of paramount importance in the evolving dynamics between India, the United States and Russia. .. Dynamics of Afghanistan.
weapons
Prior to Putin’s visit to India, Russia’s ambassador to India, Bara Bencatesh Balma, said that Russia remains one of India’s most important arms suppliers, and at bilateral conferences bilateral military and technology. He said he would discuss the cooperation. Next 10 years.
and Interview with a Russian news agency According to TASS on November 1, the current amount of bilateral defense between India and Russia has increased from $ 2 to $ 3 billion in 2018 to $ 900 to 10 billion annually.
Romanov said India is one of the five largest buyers of weapons from Russia and that New Delhi will expand its fleet of 59 MiG-29 fighters by purchasing an additional 21 aircraft. He emphasized that the final defense agreement between India and Russia was signed in February when it was decided.
“The government has allocated Rupees 74.1 billion for this transaction. To avoid US sanctions, the two countries have agreed to trade in their respective currencies.” Romanov said in an email that Putin’s visit to India meant that “Russian Gunsmith would be loaded until at least 2031.”
Romanov said India and Russia have jointly produced 700,000 units of the Russian AK-203 assault rifle in the Indian city of Colva since March 2019, India’s “Western Influential Region”. Therefore, the purchase of Russian weapons “partially reduces the influence of the United States.”
Russia is also expanding its defense cooperation with India’s enemy, Pakistan. Who and india I have fought four wars. Russia maintained a modest relationship with Pakistan so as not to be hostile to its relationship with India, but India’s bilateral relations with the United States, including the signing of the 2008 India-US Private Nuclear Agreement. The expansion has warmed Moscow to Pakistan. Recently, Russia and Pakistan have also participated in joint military exercises.
“Now we are including Russia in our plans to fight Pakistan … we will be able to sell weapons in two fronts and see the fight from above,” Romanov said.
He said that India-Russia cooperation should not be limited to the joint production of weapons, and that Russia could be a “true alternative” to what he called “both American and Chinese globalism.” Must be shown. “
Afghanistan
The Romanov dynasty, with the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan and the subsequent vacuum of power in the country, did not “gain an advantage” for the Russians, but instead gave it to the Chinese, between Russia and India. He said he created a new basis for his involvement.
This vacuum of power in Afghanistan “created a relatively unmanageable crisis that could explode from Afghanistan in a blast. [and] It will be a difficult test for the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization]”Romanov said. “The situation was frozen by the Kremlin’s acceptance of the Taliban.”
The CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance of six post-Soviet countries: Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The Romanovs believe that American influence has survived in Afghanistan “through a fairly influential Taliban” and “smoldering conflicts could reignite,” an internal crisis in both Russia and China. Is causing.
“But in this case, India gained control and India was defeated accordingly. So Moscow dragged the game into India, and at the same time 1) weakened China’s position and 2) India’s. We are trying to strengthen the pros.-Russia’s position, and 3) By putting the “lever” in its own hands, it will directly strengthen Russia’s position itself, trying to break some Western relations. ” Romanov said.
He said Russia could influence the situation by putting the normalization of relations between India and China as a prerequisite for cooperation with Beijing.
“In other words [Henry] Kissinger, New Delhi and Beijing should be closer to Moscow than each other. India is interested in working with us. This will allow us to fulfill our mission of strengthening our role in both East and West Asia, “Romanov said.
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Venus Upadhayaya reports on various issues. Her area of expertise is geopolitics in India and South Asia. She reports from the highly volatile Indian-Pakistan border and has contributed to India’s mainstream print media for almost a decade. Community media, sustainable development and leadership continue to be her key areas of interest.