Russia in Global Affairs

Russia should start thinking about projects that it can propose in South Asia, to bolster its own presence and strengthen its partnership with India.

India's pursuit of "strategic autonomy," somewhat akin to that of France, underlines a broader global strategy to balance great power politics without becoming overly dependent on any single ally. Modi's new administration will now aim to navigate these complexities.

To win the war of economies, where the enemy has all the trump cards — from a solid share in world trade to the printing press of the world’s reserve currency — we need, as military theory teaches us, an asymmetric strategy. It is useless to try to break through the sanctions wall: you need to learn how to get around it by interacting with the structures of the shadow economy.

Russia must realize that the Indian political elites are expanding their contacts with the Americans not because of the “pressure from Washington,” but because, in their opinion, cooperation with the U.S. is in New Delhi’s national interests. At the same time, Moscow has the right to expect New Delhi to show a similar attitude towards the Russian-Chinese “relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction of a new era.”

Russia will need to demonstrate clearly where New Delhi fits into the Russian grand strategy towards the East and how Moscow aims to implement its grand strategy towards the broader Asia-Pacific.