Sergey Saenko, international observer

At the end of December last year, Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniyam Jaishankar paid a five-day visit to Russia, where he was received by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Of course, this meeting became the central event of the visit of the Indian Foreign Minister to our country, during which he visited not only Moscow, but also St. Petersburg. “I know that you have a large program and a large amount of work to interact with our country: both through the intergovernmental commission and through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Everything is in your hands, and I must say that in general we are doing well. Apparently, with your immediate direct support,” the Russian leader addressed the Indian guest with these words.

President Putin especially noted that “trade turnover is growing, for the second year in a row and at a steady pace.” “Today trade turnover amounts to more than $50 billion. And we believe that these are just the first steps in unlocking our potential,” confirmed Subramaniyam Jaishankar. We would like to add that, according to analysts from the Russian-Asian Business Council (RABC), trade turnover between Russia and India could reach $100 billion by 2030, which is half the current level of trade with China. In addition, the Indian minister conveyed “personal greetings and best wishes” to Vladimir Putin from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as a certain written message from him.

Let us note that on the Russian side, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who had previously held separate negotiations with his Indian counterpart, took part in the meeting in the Kremlin, which can only indicate the high level of especially privileged relations between Moscow and New Delhi. During these negotiations, the ministers once again emphasized that the relations between our countries are in the nature of a strategic partnership. At the meeting, the parties touched upon a number of important international issues, including conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. The ministers also discussed a rather ambitious project: preparations for the launch of the North-South international transport corridor – from India and Iran through Russia to Europe.

The program of Subrahmaniyam Jaishankar’s stay in Moscow also included a press conference with Sergei Lavrov, at which the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in particular, stated: “We are sincerely grateful to our Indian colleagues for their desire to take a responsible approach to considering and solving regional and global problems, focusing on first of all, on national interests, the interests of equal, fair international cooperation”.

It should be noted that even before the Kremlin meeting, the Indian Foreign Minister took part in a number of events. In addition to negotiations with his colleague Lavrov, he met with Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, took part in the 25th meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation as a co-chairman, and also held a meeting with representatives of the Russian expert community. Thus, as a result of the meeting with Manturov, important Russian-Indian agreements were signed regarding the future units of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant. After this meeting, the Indian distinguished guest named military-technical ties, nuclear energy and cooperation in space among the main areas of bilateral cooperation.

Another significant event of the Indian Foreign Minister’s stay in Moscow was a two-hour meeting at the Metropol Hotel with leading representatives of the Russian expert community, organized by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) jointly with the Indian Embassy in Russia. This meeting, according to its Russian participants, took place in a frank and very informal atmosphere. At the same time, Subramaniyam Jaishankar demonstrated the ability to find succinct formulations that explain the equidistance of official New Delhi from world centers of power and his readiness, together with Moscow, to defend the interests of the Global South, which today includes India, which has a population of almost one and a half billion.

Speaking about ties between Moscow and New Delhi, one cannot help but mention some problems in Russian-Indian relations. In particular, India is very concerned about the rapprochement between Russia and China, which has recently intensified noticeably in all areas, including military. However, it seems to us that this problem can only be resolved by further deepening Russian-Indian relations, as well as expanding cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi within the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), RIC (Russia, India, China) and the SCO, which, in addition to the other six Asian states, includes Russia, India, and China.

New Delhi is also concerned about issues related to the payment mechanism for trade between India and Russia, which was developed to circumvent US and EU sanctions against Moscow due to the crisis around Ukraine. Thus, in its editorial, the influential Indian newspaper The Hindu points out that “this has led to delays in payments, as well as the need for India to use third-party currencies, including the UAE dirham and the Chinese yuan, to pay for imports from Russia, which from 2022 to 2023 grew by 368%.” At the same time, the publication points out that record growth was achieved mainly due to increased imports of Russian oil, which led to a “serious trade deficit” for India.

Some aspects of New Delhi’s policy worry Moscow in turn. For example, Russia cannot be pleased with the fact that over the past five years, purchases of Russian weapons by India have decreased by 19% – from 64% to 45%, and our country in this area is literally “stepping on the heels” of France, which is now selling new weapons. Delhi has even more weapons than the US does. These facts are cited in one of its latest reports by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). SIPRI data suggests that the military-political leadership of India seems to have decided to take a course towards diversifying military-technical cooperation with foreign countries by curtailing its scope with Russia.

However, despite some growing pains that currently exist, in general relations between Moscow and New Delhi are developing quite successfully. It is no coincidence that during his stay in Russia, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar emphasized the unique nature of Russian-Indian relations. Thus, during a meeting with representatives of the Russian expert community, he made it clear that the key principle of the foreign policy of the current Indian leadership remains strategic autonomy, which excludes the possibility of joining military-political blocs, membership in which would impose strict obligations on New Delhi and limit freedom of his foreign policy maneuver. Moreover, the Indian minister confirmed the futility of Western attempts to tear India away from Russia. And this statement, without a doubt, cannot but please Moscow, and indicates that India will continue to follow the course of strengthening friendship and cooperation with Russia.

In conclusion, we note that currently there is an active process of forming a new world order, which should put an end to the unipolar world and US hegemony in the international arena. And in the current situation, it is extremely important that such an original and unique country, which India undoubtedly is, does not find itself on the sidelines of world politics. It seems that the continuation of close and fruitful cooperation between New Delhi and Moscow within the framework of BRICS and the SCO will not allow it to become a secondary world power, but will only strengthen its influence and authority in the world. In any case, the future of Russian-Indian relations seems very promising, and they will only develop and strengthen, which ultimately meets the interests of the peoples of Russia and India.