India-Russia ties: Beyond the optics

For Putin, it was a political win, which demonstrated that Russia has been able to break away from the isolation that the US-led western order tried to impose upon it.

- AJAY SINGH

President Vladimir Putin's two-day visit to India for the 23rd India-Russia Summit—his first since the Ukraine war—grabbed headlines across the country and much of the world.

The American press announced, “Trump makes India-Russia ties great again.” China viewed it with disdain and downplayed it—meaning that it had registered. Europe watched from the sidelines with a hope that it could help end the Ukraine war, and the fear that India is tilting away from the western order towards Russia, shifting the power equations in its favour. In India, the dominant sentiment was towards a reaffirmation of ties, a hope of arms and nuclear deals in the offing, increased trade to offset Trump's disastrous sanctions, and getting back to a time-tested partner in the shifting geopolitical landscape of the world.

There were a lot of expectations about the visit, and eventually it was all about optics and strategic signalling. For Putin, it was a political win, which demonstrated that Russia has been able to break away from the isolation that the US-led western order tried to impose upon it. For India, it was a statement that it has strategic and economic choices, which it can pursue while still adhering to our core concept of strategic autonomy.