... top of the Russian Il-78 MKI in the contest for securing a $2 billion contract to supply 6 aircraft (later the results of the tender were canceled).
The landmark event for Russia-India partnership in energy sphere was the first shipment of LNG from Russia to India in June 2018. Moscow has finally entered Indian gas market and offered more attractive terms than LNG suppliers from the U.S. From Moscow’s perspective, this deal is a great opportunity to show that the international blockade imposed by Washington against Russian oil ...
... training grounds located in the Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Astrakhan and Kemerovo regions, in Dagestan and the Altai Territory, as well as in the Caspian Sea. This exercise holds significance, especially, after the tensions prevailing between the two SCO members India and Pakistan. The maturity of the two countries should not be underestimated. For Russia, it is a diplomatic victory to be able to bring them together for the common purpose of countering international terrorism.
The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) was also discussed. The focus has been given to electronic document ...
... and increase India’s role in regional and global affairs, which is the object of the country’s progressively growing desire. These developments also open new opportunities for broad cooperation within BRICS and the consultative mechanism of three SCO members — Russia, India, and China (known as RIC). The next RIC meeting is scheduled to take place alongside the upcoming BRICS summit in Osaka in late June 2019, which will be held concurrently with the next G20 summit.
Another important positive factor in the further ...
... encouraged. Some steps, such as the
extension
of VoA scheme to Indians to selected cities in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District are encouraging, though not sufficient at all.
Creating and sustaining cooperation across diplomatic platforms
The Indo-Russian collaboration has been vibrant and active across multiple international forums including BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that stand out amid the majority of international diplomatic forums led by the West. India’s accession to the SCO and the recent multinational counter-terrorism
military exercise
provides an opportunity to deepen its involvement in the Eurasian geopolitics. Also, the bilateral collaboration has been strategic in terms of creating new ...
... related to Beijing’s widely publicized foreign policy slogan of building a “community of common destiny,” which for the time being remains rather vague and lacking in real content. The Qingdao Declaration drew particular attention to this fact.
Russia and other SCO states (with the exception of India, a fact also reflected in the meeting’s final document) generally support the One Belt One Road concept, while actively advocating its involvement with other economic projects in the region. The signing of an agreement on economic cooperation ...
... India nor Pakistan belong to the (post-)communist world: the two countries share the British colonial legacy and have a completely different experience of statehood and political development (incidentally, the SCO’s official languages have always been Russian and Chinese, not English). The SCO must also contend with the complicated relations between India and China.
Alexander Vorobyov:
China and Central Asia: Growing Friendship at Russian Borders
At the present time, it is difficult to predict how the SCO’s expansion will affect its operation. Most likely, it will now be much more difficult to ...
... the Indian economy is slated to surpass that of Japan in size by 2030 according to some projections — should be a much more integral part of Russia’s Asian strategy.
The belief in some Russian quarters that Pakistan can be a participant in major SCO or BRICS infrastructure and other projects within the framework of the India-Russia strategic relationship is unlikely to find a positive echo in Indian thinking, given India’s seven decades of experience with Pakistan’s endemic hostility. Russia’s evolving optic on Pakistan is creating a gap in the hitherto strong geopolitical ...
... rise in global food consumption, the exacerbation of the problem of chemical fertilizers, the dwindling fresh water reserves and the necessity to disinfect products. All these topics are parts of the new paradigm of strategic partner relations between Russia and India. The SCO and BRICS frameworks are large enough to attract China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region to Russia–India bilateral relations in these large-scale projects.
In Russia, the task of building a digital economy ...
... Axis, despite its privileged defence spending related relations with India. The Indo-U.S. partnership includes technology transfers, co-production and establishment of a bilateral defense Procurement and Production Group must have raised eyebrows in Moscow. India is a big market for Russian arms export and seeing this market going into their arch rival side will further strain bilateral relations.As far as Pakistan is concerned, the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership is a recipe for regional instability. Indo-U.S. cooperation in civil ...
... countries further apart. The small states fear that now their voices and decision making power will be diminished with the inclusion of India. Iranian membership could see their voices diminished further given the country’s tendency to align with Russia on many issues.
India’s inclusion may also signal a simultaneous loss of Chinese interest in the SCO. Worried that India will serve as a counterweight to its influence in the organization, Beijing may have dropped its opposition to India’s membership because realized it can better carry out its plans for the Silk Road Economic Belt through ...
