According to an item published in the
latest issue of Indian Military Review Russia
and India have systematically increased their cooperation in the military and
military-technical cooperation spheres in 2014, within the ‘privileged
strategic partnership’ the two countries share. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Russian Federation detailed this cooperation in its Annual Report on
Activities for 2014, posted on the Ministry’s official website.
Giving details, the new issue of Indian
Military Review, published from New Delhi said, “Against the background of
anti-Russian sanctions pressure, being imposed by the West, Moscow continued to
increase cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR),” the
report noted. “The main focus was placed on this cooperation leading to a
positive impact on Russia’s regions, and in particular the Far East and
Siberia.”
In relations with India, Russia continued
the highly dynamic dialogue within the ‘privileged strategic partnership’ of
the two countries.
According to the report, on December 11,
2014, during the annual Russia-India Summit, in New Delhi, the new Indian
leadership reaffirmed the country’s commitment to intensify bilateral
relations.
“As part of the implementation of the
flagship project in the energy sector – the construction of the Kudankulam
Nuclear Power Plant in India – the first energy block was connected to the
electricity grid of the country, and work on the second block is continuing.
Military and military-technical cooperation also grew steadily; in Russia,
joint exercises were held by all branches of the Indian armed forces, and the
aircraft carrier Vikramaditya (earlier the Admiral Gorshkov) entered into
service in the Indian Navy,” the Foreign Ministry report said.
Pak-Russian Bonhomie
India may not officially give its take ever
on this, but it is one development which won't go down well with the Indian
government and won't be good for Indo-Russian relationship: the decision of
Russia and Pakistan to hold joint military exercises first time ever.
The question is will India formally react
to the Russia-Pakistan bonhomie? If it does and the Ministry of External
Affairs issues a formal statement, though unlikely as per this writer's
understanding, how will India react? Will India react like a jilted lover or
will India be more understanding and react like a mature friend?
There are two ways of looking at the
increasing bonhomie between Moscow and Islamabad. One is the emotive way of
bilateral relations which have traditionally been very warm though the two
sides have not made much song and dance about it. The other is the cold
strategic calculus and fast changing geopolitics.
On the emotional plane of bilateral
relations, India may act like a possessive spouse and howl at Russia being
wooed by a new suitor, Pakistan. A discernible chill has set in Indo-Russian
relations. This is visible from the declining bilateral trade which was below
$10 billion last year and is likely to tumble further this year. This is
despite the fact that the two sides had vowed to raise their bilateral trade to
$20 billion in 2015!
But then Russia itself cannot escape the
blame for this state of affairs. True, Russians were miffed over the fact that
Indian defence import orders were drying up and the United States edged past
Russia last year to become India's largest armament exporter. But that doesn't
mean that Russia should lift its embargo on sale of weaponry to Pakistan as it
did last year.
The decision of Russia and Pakistan to hold
joint military exercises is nothing in comparison to the much bigger red rag
the Russians waved at India last year. Sergey Chemezov, the head of Rostec
Corporation, inexplicably went on record saying last year that Russia was open
to military-technological cooperation with Pakistan and the negotiations on the
sales of Mi-35 multipurpose military transport helicopters to that country were
already underway.
However, Indian pressure has worked so far
and no Russian official has shot off his mouth on sale of Russian attack
helicopters to Pakistan since then. The other way of looking at increasing
bonhomie between Russia and Pakistan is the fast-changing strategic matrix in
the region.
Russia knows the importance of Pakistan as
American and NATO troops have already started pulling out of Afghanistan. By
next year end, Afghanistan will be completely on its own. Pakistan has been
playing the waiting game for long and biding for its time.
Russia wants to keep Pakistan in good
humour and needs Pakistan's services in Afghanistan, something that China has
been doing for decades.
