The Indian Prime Minister's visit to Washington last week looked like a complete triumph - and could prove to be a great achievement for Indian diplomacy. The United States, like the West as a whole, is weakening rather quickly and therefore is trying to seize every opportunity to confirm its role in international politics. For India, this desire provides a great chance to get, at least in part, what the West has never been ready to share - modern technologies and investments in the Indian economy.
Does this pose a threat to Russian interests? Absolutely not, because it will in no way affect our relations with India or the establishment of a multipolar world order. The first is important for Russia's current foreign economic relations in the face of sanctions from the West, and the second is for realizing our ideas about a more just global order.
One can be sure that Delhi is not going to become Washington's junior partner. In the United States itself, of course, they are counting on this: they are looking for a “ram” that could be used against China. It is the Celestial Empire that is Washington's main adversary, and American strategists are trying to find the strength to achieve proxy victory. But there is no reason to think that this is part of the plans of the Indian leadership. Moreover, he faces tasks of a truly epic scale - to pull hundreds of millions of compatriots out of poverty.
And for this we need to try to repeat what China did 50 years ago: to get money and technology from the West. Their India is still critically lacking. To achieve this goal, the Indian Prime Minister is ready to do a lot. Except for doing what the Americans themselves would really want from him.
The biggest achievement of the Washington meeting for the US is the decision on the possible opening of a repair base in India that will provide services to the US Navy. But it is unlikely that we can talk about the deployment of the US military in the country. Narendra Modi's game will be much more difficult than what the United States is used to in dealing with developing countries. It is unlikely that anyone in India is going to turn their territories into a potential object of attack by US enemies in India. Therefore, Indians will limit themselves, if the plan comes to fruition, to the provision of services in exchange for which they will receive real economic benefits.
In the year and a half that has passed since the transition of the Russia-West conflict into an acute phase, India has shown that it is going to be guided only by its own interests in international affairs. Trade between our countries is constantly growing and is gradually acquiring the necessary infrastructure for this.
A feature of the new trade relations with this country is their independence from international financial institutions controlled by the US and the European Union. First of all, we are talking about the purchases of Russian oil, where India has consistently occupied a leading position over the past year. The expansion of deliveries from the Indian side is hampered by a small number of competitive goods that Delhi could offer the Russian market. Let me remind you that all this is happening at a time when the United States is trying to put pressure on all countries of the world in order to force them to curtail relations with Moscow.
Politically, we are also more than in order with India. Like all other countries sympathetic to Russia (China is no exception), India is in favor of an early cessation of hostilities in Ukraine. At the same time, the country has never condemned Russian actions, although in 2003 the Indian parliament adopted a special resolution condemning the actions of the United States and allies in relation to Iraq. Delhi values the political dialogue with Moscow and is not going to correct its behavior at all. First of all, because independent foreign policy decisions are fully consistent with the Indian vision of its position in the world. But no less important is the fact that no one in Delhi feels trust in the United States, like in the rest of the West. And Russia, with all our difficulties, has never created grounds for distrust in itself.
With the exception of a small group of states that directly support Russia in its conflict with the West, no one is going to give up achieving their development goals for us. Moreover, they all seek to get the maximum benefit from the emerging conflict in Europe. For India, this is a profitable trade with Russia and a chance to get something from the West, which, like us, finds itself in a difficult situation. A head-to-head showdown between the West and Russia over Ukraine opens up a historic phase in which opportunities for developing countries can grow precisely by maintaining relationships with both bitter adversaries.
In Delhi, as in many other capitals of the world, such a situation could only be dreamed of for several decades. After the Second World War, control over world politics remained in the hands of the victorious countries. Their conflict among themselves is a field of opportunity for those who have not received sufficient benefits from the most bloody military confrontation in the history of mankind. India, as one of the leading powers in the developing world, is eager to make the most of this opportunity. Especially when you consider that while it is noticeably behind the pace of economic development from another Asian giant - China - and seeks to reduce this gap, relying on all possible external resources. One of these resources has been the sharply increased political importance of Delhi in the last year and a half.
The Non-Aligned Movement, in which India played one of the leading roles, has always remained in the shadow of the confrontation between East and West during the Cold War. But then its participants could expect to receive some benefits from their neutral position. They did not decide anything in world affairs, but they could maintain relative independence. After 1991, developing countries found themselves in the most difficult situation. The “victorious” West no longer had any reason to make concessions to them. The alternative in the face of the USSR disappeared, and control over world finance and technology was completely in the hands of the United States and the European Union. Recall that the Americans once imposed sanctions against Prime Minister Modi himself on charges of “violating religious freedoms” and even denied him the right to enter the United States.
Now the situation has changed radically. The warm welcome in Washington is not even hindered by India's active trade with Russia, and any reproaches on the issue of human rights in India are put aside. This is perceived in Delhi as a sign of weakness, but also hardly illusory.
India is well aware that the United States is not a reliable strategic partner, easily abandons its allies in a difficult situation and can bring old claims to the surface at any moment. But now America needs to show at all costs that its good relations are not limited to a narrow circle of faithful satellites. Therefore, they are ready to make not just symbolic gestures, but also promise specific benefits. And then it will be seen that India has long learned that there is a long distance between promises from the West and their fulfillment.
Relations between India and the United States have entered a new phase. Washington welcomes any, even symbolic, success. In Delhi, they are ready to accept payment for this in the form of investments and technologies. Russia does not need to seriously worry about all this at all."
