Despite US Tariffs, India Is the Nation in Limelight

With the passage of time, Donald Trump's Alaska summit appears to not only have failed but also to have displayed a changing world order.

- HARSHA KAKAR

Sanctions on India for procuring Russian oil and thereby funding their war machinery were aimed at pressurizing India into switching alliances. India refused to budge. Trump, in his desperation to display proximity to Vladimir Putin, and hoping he would accept direct talks with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, made European leaders wait while he spoke to him. This too failed. Trump's dream of a Nobel is fading.

While Putin has not commented on Trump's summit request, his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov made the Russian position clear. He debunked most of what Trump and his European allies had suggested. On security guarantees, he mentioned that a group of nations, including UNSC members, should be guarantors of Ukraine's security. These would automatically include Russia and China.

He added that non-UNSC members being part of guarantors must be "neutral, non-aligned with any military bloc and non-nuclear," implying almost no NATO role. He added that NATO membership was unacceptable, and that protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine and territorial realignment need to be accepted.

Finally, on a Putin-Zelensky summit, Lavrov mentioned, "Putin is ready to meet with Zelenskyy when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all." Generally, leaders' summits are photo-ops, with most preparations done by diplomats in advance. A meeting without pre-set agendas or approved agreements has little chance of success.

Lavrov's comments came after he met India's EAM S Jaishankar, implying India was on board with the Russian view. Putin, like most heads of state, would prefer issues being discussed and finalized between diplomats, with limited refinement at the summit.