A tightrope walk amid churn in global equations

New Delhi and Moscow recognise the pull of other relationships — India with the US and Russia with China. But Putin's visit and its outcome shows India is ready to take the rocky road

- Manoj Joshi

Measured by the metric of tightrope walks, it was a virtuoso performance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi finessed Russian President Vladimir Putin's State visit to India and showed the world that the old Russia-India partnership not only had a lot oflife left in it but was perhaps headed for even better days.

This was, at one level, a routine visit — the 23rd ina series of annual summits between the two countries. But, given the current global juncture, this was no ordinary summit. Putin's aim was to show the world, especially onlookers in the West, that he remained a global leader who was received with great warmth and ceremony by one of the major world powers. Modi’s goal was to reassert India’s strategic autonomy in a year that has seen it shaken by the new Trump dispensation in Washington.

There were no showy outcomes, but areiteration of ongoing projects and goals, and the setting up of new targets. These related to a labour mobility agreement, their important defence, space and energy partnership, as well as efforts to set their trade relationship onan even level and boost it to $100 billion by 2030. Trade isa sensitive issue, since it is severely imbalanced, with India importing some $68 billion, mainly oil, and exporting just $5 billion worth of consumer and electronic products. But there have been several signals, including the large business delegation accompanying Putin, that Russia is serious about promoting imports from India.