Modi-Putin meet seeks to strengthen ties

BOTH THE COUNTRIES WILL SEEK TO RESOLVE TENSIONS OVER THEIR SHIFTING GLOBAL ALLIANCES WHEN THEY MEET IN ST PETERSBURG

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek to repair India’s drifting partnership with Russia when he meets President Vladimir Putin this week, amid wariness over Moscow’s renewed interest in New Delhi’s backyard, analysts say.

The two leaders will look to stem a decline in trade between the once robust economic partners and resolve tensions over their shifting global alliances when they meet on June 1 ahead of a summit in Saint Petersburg.

The two countries enjoyed a 70-year alliance forged during the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was India’s largest trading partner, diplomatic ally and main arms supplier.

But the relationship became unmoored following the collapse of the USSR, as India underwent an economic transformation and increasingly sought to build trade ties with Western nations.

That process has accelerated as New Delhi has orbited closer to Washington, and Russia has fostered ties with Pakistan and China, analysts say. Russia remains a chief partner for India but “the basis for the relationship is, however, very weak”, said Dhruva Jaishankar, foreign policy fellow with Brookings India.

“People-to-people exchanges are limited, young Indians are less likely to study Russian, and even areas like energy and information technology, where the two countries have comparative advantages, are underdeveloped,” he said.

The two leaders are expected to discuss a framework agreement for Moscow to supply more reactors to a nuclear plant in southern India as the country seeks to reduce.

New Delhi once relied on Moscow for its military hardware, but has increasingly turned to the US, France and Israel to update its Soviet-era defence equipment in recent years.

Moreover, Modi now seeks to manufacture military hardware locally, asking foreign firms to work with domestic contractors under his “Make in India” campaign, in a bid to reduce reliance on costly imports. Meanwhile, he also moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of summons issued by a trial court in a complaint case alleging that he gave false information to the poll panel in his affidavit in the run up to the 2013 assembly election.

The trial court had issued summons in February last year on a complaint filed by Neeraj Saxena and Anuj Agarwal , noting that the CM had prima facie “willfully concealed” and “suppressed” details.