New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting India for a few hours on 6 December amid the serious situation of Coronavirus Omicron variant and Ukraine crisis. . Putin is such a great player in international diplomacy, who can beat anyone. On his visit to India, Putin will try to simultaneously engage his three ‘enemies’ India-China and Pakistan.
The special thing is that there will be talks between President Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in private for some time. In recent years, especially since the time of the China and India border dispute, there has been a gap in the relations between Russia and India. That warmth was not visible in the relations between the two countries. India needed Russia’s cooperation at the time of the China border dispute, but Russia kept silent. During this time India came very close to America. America described India as its deep friend in front of the world. The proximity of Russia and China has also been hurting India. Not only this, with the proximity of China, Russia also got closer to Pakistan. It is clear that to establish its dominance in South Asia, Russia needs all three countries, India, China, and Pakistan.
In an article for Forbes.com titled ‘Why Russia Won’t Choose Sides Between China And India’, South East Asia journalist David Hutt writes that Russia’s strategy at present is to engage China with India. Russia needs friendship with China to deal with America’s dominance in international politics, but China’s bigotry in Asia is also a matter of concern for it. That is why he also gives importance to his relationship with India to counter China.
India is a big market for its weapons
Not only this, India is a big market especially for Russia’s own weapons. For this reason, Russia has been supporting India’s membership in the United Nations, from permanent membership to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and NSG. As far as the relationship between Russia and China is concerned, it is in a way a compulsion of the Putin government. Russia needs China to overcome Western sanctions, but it (Russia) is also not sure about China.
How useful is Putin’s visit to India?
This visit of Russian President Putin will strengthen bilateral relations between India and Russia. Relations between India and Russia have been very strong since independence. Especially military relations with Russia have been better from the beginning. Apart from military hardware, India also buys tanks, small arms, aircraft, ships, carrier aircraft (INS Vikramaditya), and submarines from Russia. Together both the countries are making BrahMos supersonic missiles.
