By Manish Chand, IANS
Moscow : India may have vigorously denied any “chill” in its ties with Russia and claimed that relations were “hotter than ever before”, but this official feel-good talk conceals Moscow’s deep concerns about New Delhi’s perceived drift into the strategic orbit of Washington.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s two-hour discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin Monday may have smoothened some of the “rough edges”, but a cautious Moscow will watch carefully how much the Indian prime minister means it when he calls Russia India’s “top strategic partner”.
Manmohan Singh’s brief two-day visit to Moscow saw grand reiterations about time-tested friendship by both sides and the signing of four agreements on joint unmanned lunar mission, multi-role transport aircraft, rupee-rouble trade and narcotics control.
“Our relations have a long-standing history and develop in the best way,” said Putin. Manmohan Singh was effusive in Putin’s praise and lauded his “large personal contribution” to strengthening Russia-India relations.
Russian sources, however, pointed to a certain trust deficit developing in Moscow about New Delhi’s moves on issues of foreign policy and the purchase of military hardware.
The failure of the two sides to ink a bilateral nuclear pact on building four more reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, which was expected during the visit, left a sour note here as it underlined that New Delhi was keen not to risk its nuclear deal with the US for a separate deal with Moscow.
Reliable Russian sources told IANS during Manmohan Singh’s visit that the Kremlin had worked hard on the draft of the inter-governmental agreement on Kudankulam reactors, but India developed cold feet at the last moment on signing the pact for fear of US disapproval.
The failure of the two sides to sign the Kudankulam pact, according to Russian journalist Sergei Strokan, was “the tip of the iceberg of growing discord between the long-standing strategic partners”.
“India’s turn towards the US threatens to make it leave the orbit of Russia’s politics in Asia,” Strokan wrote in a commentary in Russian media.
Indian officials accompanying Manmohan Singh to Moscow were quick to deny such speculation, saying that they did not go ahead with the Kudankulam agreement sans an India-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA as it would have reduced the pact to a “useless piece of paper”.
Moreover, New Delhi was keen to send the message that it did not want to violate international law for civil nuclear commerce by entering into separate bilateral deals.
With the India-US nuclear deal stalled — which Russia backed in hope of earning billions in supplying nuclear reactors and fuel — and lucrative Indian defence contacts worth an estimated $14 billion in danger of drifting away, Moscow is keen to send the message that if special ties are to thrive in the future, they must be backed by more substance.
Russia has backed India for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, but is increasingly wary of New Delhi’s stance on issues close to its heart like missile defence and India’s participation in a quadrilateral military exercise with the US, Japan and Australia.
Moscow also wants New Delhi to join the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) aimed at discouraging American influence in Central Asia, but India is not keen to move beyond the observer status it currently has in the SCO.
On the Russian side, there is also a certain nostalgia for the pre-1990 days of old-fashioned camaraderie between India and Russia when New Delhi was more dependent on Moscow not just for military hardware but for diplomatic support on issues like Kashmir.
Now, as Putin revives dreams of old Soviet-style superpower glory, Moscow is feeling insecure with an increasingly independent and assertive New Delhi.
“Russia would like India to be in a relationship of dependency and not engage in an autonomous balance of power exercise,” a Russian source said.
Another important cause for Russian concern is because India, which once depended on Moscow for 80 percent of its military purchases, is diversifying its imports of military hardware. Companies in the US and Europe, along with Russia, are prime contenders for the $12 billion Indian tender to buy 126 fighter planes.
“There are serious issues relating to delay in arms deliveries and consequent price escalation,” an Indian official said. Getting spares for Russian-origin military hardware is another problem area.
With these concerns as a backdrop, many recent discordant notes in bilateral ties — like Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov unable to meet his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee during the latter’s visit to Moscow last month — falls in perspective.
But these hiccups are part of a close and intimate relationship that has stood “the test of time”.
“It’s a seamless relationship … without any difficulties or troubles or wrinkles,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters at the beginning of Manmohan Singh’s trip.
“Despite major transformations in the world, our relations remain firmly rooted in a mutual bond of friendship, understanding and trust,” Manmohan Singh stressed at a banquet hosted by Putin Monday evening in Moscow.