... Gupta, Director, Vivekananda International Foundation; and Mohammad Hasan Sheikholeslami, President, Institute of Political and International Studies; addressed the participants with welcoming remarks.
Session 1 of the roundtable was devoted to the Russian, Indian and Iranian interests in Afghanistan and the possibilities of their interaction on issues of common interest in order to normalize the situation. The speakers included: Seyyed Rasoul Mousavi, MFA Director general of South Asia Department, Former Ambassador to Tajikistan and Finland; ...
... of Russia and France on key issues related to Iranian issues. Within the framework of the workshop, there was a discussion of the role of Russia and France in the possible restoration of the JCPOA, future of the Iran nuclear deal, key directions of Iran's regional policy and the transformation of its foreign policy due to the situation in Afghanistan.
Leading Russian and French diplomats and experts attended the meeting. On the RIAC side, the meeting was attended by: Andrey Kortunov, Director General at the RIAC; Aydar Aganin, Deputy Director at the Foreign Policy Planning Department of the Ministry of Foreign ...
... memory of the Soviet-Afghan War from 1979-89 which is widely regarded as a significant contributing factor to the decline of the Soviet Union still weighs heavily on many Russians. Russia also maintains close security ties to the states that border Afghanistan, namely: Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Iran. Russia’s
largest
foreign military base is in Tajikistan, while the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led military alliance, figures to play a
major role
in any fallout from the Afghan crisis to secure the borders of member states....
... he will actually do it. The thing is, if we do not see any real steps made in the intra-Afghan process, then the Americans will find it increasingly difficult to put on a happy face. This is what makes the joint call of the special representatives of Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan for foreign troops in Afghanistan to “withdraw in an orderly and responsible manner to ensure a smooth transition” published on May 18, 2020, particularly relevant. Both the government of Afghanistan and U.S. officials have made it clear that they are ready to open the ...
... risks for Indian buyers. An expansion of the U.S. LNG presence in the region, for its part, may present Washington with instruments for applying pressure (including political pressure) on India, which is critically dependent on energy imports. Finally, Iran’s energy partnership with China could transform into a political partnership, effectively cutting India off from Central Asia and Afghanistan.
There are also a number of potential threats for Russia. The country could see its business opportunities in the Indian market narrowed and might end up with Europe and China as its two key gas consumers. Russian companies would end up being restricted to India’s LNG segment, in which they do not ...
