India Narrative

In a recent interview to Izvestia, the new Ambassador designate of the Russia Federation to India Denis Alipov said that India occupies a central position in Russians foreign policy priorities and that Russia was interested in India's growing influence as an independent power centre both in the world and in particular in the " Asia Pacific Region ". While the good ambassador's words are admirable, this has become a common refrain of late - not just encouraging or wishing for India''s rise as a major power, but rather acknowledging India as a power centre. On his India visit for the bilateral visit, President Vladimir Putin himself said this in Delhi: "Russia views India as a major power, whose people have been very friendly to us." And with good reason too. A cold war era joke goes that the only truly non-aligned countries then were the USA and the USSR. In the current context India may be a truly non-aligned country. It's excellent current relat

The developing confrontation between the West and Russia on the Ukraine issue does not serve India’s interests. We have very friendly ties with the US, Europe and Russia and would prefer not take sides. This would require very deft diplomacy on our part. India is now an important global player and both sides will be watching the position India takes. The US will want some show of support for its position, while Russia will want us to take an independent position and not succumb to US pressure. For India an actual military conflict will be most undesirable because its international repercussions will be grave and cushioning against them by us will be most difficult. The US and the EU are issuing repeated warnings at the highest level that in case Russia invades Ukraine it will face sanctions of unprecedented severity. Russia has already been subject to severe sanctions in recent years and seems to have absorbed them so far without excessive difficulty. It has warned the West that the ne