The recent visit of Indian PM Narendra Modi to Russia left a bitter taste in the mouths of India’s Western strategic partners. Sojourn to China’s closest ally and a state which practically practices offensive realism and is also a rogue state for Washington. Furthermore, Russia has elevated its defence and trade partnership into a strategic one with India, this deepening cooperation with India has become a cornerstone of foreign policy.
The whispers on the street have the tendency to fool anyone, but don’t be trapped in the rumours that PM Modi is carrying Putin’s peace message to Kyiv. It is more like image brush up to paint Putin as a peace-maker.
PM Modi has undoubtedly vouched for peace, diplomacy and dialogue. New Delhi is ready to make proactive contributions towards efforts for peace, but India has refused to become a mediator in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
From the Indian perspective, the visit presents an avenue to review and calibrate its approach towards its relations with Europe’s largest, resource rich state. No brainer India and Ukraine inked four agreements following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The agreements would provide for cooperation in areas of agriculture, food industry, medicine, culture and humanitarian assistance. In a gesture of solidarity, India handed over medical support equipment to Ukraine, amounting to a total weight of 22 tonnes.
Before the war struck Ukraine, Kyiv exported vast quantities of agricultural, machine-building and military goods to India. Russia’s shelling has adversely impacted these industries. But a silver lining is: Indo-Ukrainian cooperation is building on economical, military and political prisms.
To accrue these opportunities, both the nations must let bygones be bygones. Yes, more than two decades ago, Ukraine had criticised India’s nuclear tests. Ukraine have had been critical of India’s Kashmir policy, but so have several key Euro-American nations. When we understand the historic importance of Indo-Russia relations, its just not the present Russia under the leadership of Putin from where this bilateral graph increased. The Soviet leaders like Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita Khrushchev, apparently both hailed from Ukraine had contributed the most to advance Indo-Soviet ties.
Quite ironically, Russia’s war has put forth such conducive circumstances for Indo-Ukrainian relations where their military trade will flourish. While Russia is busy waging war, Ukraine will build new production sites, which India can offer, which in a chain effect generate manifold employment opportunities. This could be one of the top agendas of India.
Ukraine’s immediate need for weapons to defend itself might create opportunity for India to get a good riddance of obsolete Soviet arms. Scholars have also pointed out that how India can sway Soviet hardware and ammunition for Western counterparts, just as Poland updated itself. Hence, PM Modi discussed this experience in Poland.
Ukraine’s innovative waterborne drone technology jolted the superior Russian Black Sea Fleet. This maritime victory has placed Ukraine as a pioneer of modern, low cost defence developments. India must keep an eye on the ball. Ukraine’s capabilities may come handy for India, especially in the strategic Indian Ocean, which is a part of the larger Indo-Pacific region.
The conversations that are taking in Kyiv will be intense with respect to the ongoing situation in Ukraine. Practically New Delhi’s stance which has been reiterated innumerable times will remain neutral on the Ukrainian war; as India considers her relations with Russia vital, just as it views its relations with any of its significant trade partner for the advancement of its economy.
Ukraine is already finding India’s stand a bit difficult to digest. But it is what it is. National interests will always determine the key developments of both external and internal aspects of any nation’s policies. Leaders are aware that these are part and parcel of negotiations, must not be seen as a deal breaker.
Not enclosing the discussion on a sombre note, this visit which embarks a new journey for two partners the world did not know it needs, they have now emerged from the colonial shadows to shape their own destiny in the global equations.
