In a changing world, India-Russia ties steady & strong: Jaishankar

Amid shifting geopolitical currents, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar termed the India-Russia partnership “among the steadiest in the world” and underlined the need for “constant nurturing” of this mutually beneficial relationship. “There is no doubt the relations between India and Russia have been among the steadiest of the major relationships in the world after the Second World War,” said Mr Jaishankar in a lecture entitled “India-Russia ties in a changing world” at an international institute in Moscow. The minister underlined that despite many changes witnessed in the India-Russia bilateral relations, the “logic of geopolitics” has remained compelling. “But at the end of the day, the logic of geopolitics was so compelling that we barely remember these, even as minor aberrations. The undeniable reality of the exceptional resilience of our ties is surely a phenomenon that is worth analysing,” he added. In an important message, the minister cautioned that both sides should avoid taking this relationship for granted. “The paradox is though, that precisely that the relation is so steady, this relationship is sometimes taken for granted. The case for its constant nurturing is as powerful, if not more, than with the more volatile ones,” he said. “If our ties have remained stable, that is not to say that we have remained static.” The minister’s remarks set the tone for his in-person meeting with Russia’s longest-serving Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Russian capital on July 9. The talks in Moscow are expected to set the tone for the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India later this year for annual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.