Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, paid an official visit to Moscow in order to attend the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit on July 8-9, 2024 at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. The visiting Prime Minister stressed on the friendly bilateral ties during his meeting with the Russian strongman.

As the world is going through a turbulent period, the US and its Western partners kept a close eye on Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Russia! According to political analysts, the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit took place at a time when political instability loomed large in Gaza, Ukraine, Iran, Ethiopia and also in sub-Saharan Africa. Especially the bloodbath in Ukraine and Gaza has brought back memories of the Cold War! Having walked that ever-narrowing diplomatic tightrope for the past couple of years, India has started facing a greater challenge after Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Moscow.

Incidentally, the charred bodies were being taken out from a children’s hospital in Ukraine when the Indian PM embraced President Putin in Moscow as a part of his friendly gesture! The Russian missile attacks not only destroyed the hospital, but also the health service infrastructure of the former Soviet Republic. Of course, it was just a coincidence as Russia is not carrying out attacks in Ukraine for the benefit of other countries. Perhaps, the Indian foreign policy-makers forgot the fact that the diplomacy of creating a scene often initiate a spectacle with an entirely different meaning.

From the perspective of Russia, the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow is a significant one! When PM Modi arrived in Moscow, NATO condemned the Russian missile attacks on the Ukrainian hospital, sending a strong warning to the Kremlin. In such a situation, President Putin was desperate to show that his country was not isolated from the rest of the world! The video of President Putin, with Modi sitting beside him, driving a battery-powered electric car around his official residence has certainly helped the Russian leader to gain political mileage. The Russian President has been successful in branding his country’s privileged strategic relationship with India. For him, it is a convenient statement to issue while facing criticism from the West. However, India possibly does not stand to gain much from this, as one should not forget that the South Asian country is also a strategic partner of the US.

India recently joined the peace process in Switzerland, with the officials of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs sending a message for peace and stability. However, they did not sign the joint declaration against Russia! Instead, the Indian officials stated that there would be no benefit of the peace talks in the absence of Russia. India has also hinted that Prime Minister Modi could bring President Putin to the negotiating table, if Donald Trump comes to power in November 2024. Ahead of his visit to Russia, the Indian Prime Minister met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 Summit (at Borgo Egnazia (Fasano) in Apulia on June 13-15, 2024).

Meanwhile, India has started paying what may possibly be termed as quite a heavy price for maintaining a diplomatic balance with all the major world powers! When India’s Ukraine Dilemma surfaced in 2022, quite a few important issues came up. Some of those are problems related to fuel, food and fertiliser, and diplomatic relations with the US and China. To address the fuel crisis, India had to import crude oil from Russia. Gradually, the South Asian nation has occupied the top spot among countries importing cheap crude oil from Russia! At the same time, India’s relation with China has touched a new low. Although the US is preoccupied with its Presidential Election (to be held in November 2024), Washington DC has started building its own Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia, Japan and Britain, ignoring India’s plea to include it in this process! The statement issued by US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti after Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Russia, too, was somewhat unprecedented.

The Sino-Indian issue is a bit more complicated. The tension between India and China is not a pleasant one for Russia either, as the Asian Giant is also a close ally of Moscow! However, Beijing is not at all happy with President Putin’s visit to North Korea in June (2024). China is also unhappy with India’s friendly ties with Russia. Hence, President Xi Jinping has reportedly made a serious attempt to create troubles for India-Russia ties in recent times.

There is another aspect of India’s Ukraine Dilemma. Although India has been advocating for peace for the past couple of years, Russia is yet to accept India’s peace proposal. Political analysts have expressed doubt as to how far it is possible for India alone to engage President Putin in peace talks (with Ukraine). During his four-hour-long meeting with the visiting Indian Prime Minister at his official residence, President Putin was seen restlessly fiddling with the handles of the chair with his fingers! The entire world still does not know what was discussed (about Ukraine) between Prime Minister Modi and President Putin. Later, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement, mentioning that Prime Minister Modi told the Russian President: “Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity is pained when there is loss of lives. But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying.” Indeed, the Indian Prime Minister’s statement is an admirable one. However, it is not enough to convince the West.

Meanwhile, NATO has decided to help Ukraine to increase arms production in an attempt to strengthen the country militarily! With this, India has realised that Europe may be engulfed in a deeper war in the coming months. In that case, it will become difficult for India to maintain the diplomatic balance. Although Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Russia was outwardly bilateral, it had a multi-dimensional character. The Modi Administration in New Delhi shall have to work really hard in order to convince the Western World that India maintains cordial ties with Russia for the sake of its national security, as well as national interests!

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das