Modi in Russia spotlights India’s fine balance in geopolitics

Modi catches up with Russia amid China’s growing influence

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, July 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi summed up significance of his Moscow visit, saying “no matter how low the temperature dips below minus during Russian winter, India-Russia friendship has always remained in plus”.

A day after Modi concluded his Russia visit, the NATO Summit began in Washington. Ukraine is at the centre stage of the summit.

TRT World, a Turkey-based media outlet, highlighted the question getting louder – Can US president Joe Biden still lead the NATO allies against Russian war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was quoted by TRT World, lamenting that West, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific are waiting for November (this year). “Putin is also waiting for November,” said Zelenskyy, who has not been sanguine about the prospects of Republican Donald Trump ousting the Democrats in November.

Also Read: Heart-wrenching to see kids dying in battle, Modi tells Putin 

The AFP in a short video report sought to highlight that Modi’s arrival in Moscow coincided with Russian bombings of Ukraine with a toll of three dozen casualties. The western world once more built burden of expectations from Modi to talk peace with Putin.

The prime minister reiterated his past counsel to Putin, saying that “battlefields cannot give solutions to any problems”. “It’s heart-wrenching to see kids dying,” Modi told Putin in his perspective on Ukraine on the last day of his bilateral meeting with Russian president.

The US by not stopping Israel from expanding the ‘bomb to flatten’ target in Gaza is now least seen capable to find solutions to geopolitical hotspots. The flurry of the visits of the top US officials to China to enlist the support of Beijing to calm down the fury of the Houthis in the Red Sea, as well as Iran, bared vulnerabilities of Washington in managing the hotspots.

Also Read: Hathras stampede probe blames Satsang organisers & local administration

The World Bank added salt to wound of the western pride by stating that Russia is now a high-income country on the back of robust growth in the per capital income. “Economic activity in Russia was influenced by a large increase in military related activity in 2023, while growth was also boosted by a rebound in trade (+6.8 per cent), the financial sector (+8.7 per cent), and construction (+6.6 per cent). These factors led to increases in both real (3.6 per cent and nominal (10.9 per cent GDP, and Russia’s Atlas GNI per capita grew by 11.2 per cent,” said the World Bank in a report.

The US bid to bring down Russia on its knees with “crippling sanctions” has monumentally failed. China is reaping the gains of the fast growth in Russia by accelerating the growth of the bilateral trade.

Besides, Chinese President Xi Jinping with higher frequency of warm meetings with Putin, in Russia and China, has taken tactical advantage over India in relations with Moscow. Russia’s mineral wealth has long been eyed by China.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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