Forthcoming summit will lay a milestone in various spheres - Alexander Kadakin

The upcoming visit of the President of Russia will be, in many ways, a special event in the row of the regular annual Russian-Indian summits, which have become a good tradition. This is the sixth visit of Vladimir Putin to India as President. One more visit to New Delhi was made by him in the capacity of Head of Government. This is the first official friendly visit of the President after the new Government of India was formed, following the impressive victory of BJP in the general parliamentary elections.

Our countries have immense experience in holding bilateral summits: the one to be held on December, 11 will be the fifteenth. It is noteworthy that the tradition itself was established during the visit of the Russian President to India in October 2000 when Vladimir Putin and A.B.Vajpayee (then the head of Government ) signed the historic Declaration on Strategic Partnership, first-ever such document in the history of international diplomacy.

Russia, India to sign about 15 agreements during Putin’s visit – Alexander Kadakin

Anticipating your questions, it is worth mentioning that recently mutual visits of leaders have been held on a very tight schedule. The forthcoming summit – is no exception: the President is expected to stay in New Delhi for one day, and that is easily explicable.

First, the two leaders have a very congested program, which you are well aware of, also considering the extremely vigorous schedule of Mr Modi. No one of the Russian President's foreign counterparts would envy his intense lifestyle. The day before yesterday, for example, the leaders of Russia and France had a meeting at the airport!

Secondly – which is quite essential – the very nature of Russian-Indian summits is predetermined by the fact that it is a dialogue of two heads of the nations united by long-lasting trust and mutual understanding. This is a close friends’ talk, which does not require much of protocol routine and, what is more, protracted introductions or arguments. This is a practical dialogue targeted at achieving specific results.

Undoubtedly, the upcoming visit will be saturated with unprecedentedly fruitful talks, efficient and productive to the maximum. The first meetings between Mr Putin and Mr Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Brazil, as well as during the recent G20 summit in Brisbane, are an eloquent proof of it. That was an interested and informative communication marked by the determination of the two leaders to march towards new perspectives and horizons of our cooperation.

Indo-Russian cooperation

There is no doubt that the forthcoming summit will lay a milestone in various spheres. It is held against the background of a burdened international milieu, when we face increasing pressure of the USA and their allies, trying to force our country to succumb its state sovereignty and act against our own national interests.

This will never happen, and these daydreaming minions should better get rid of illusions that Russia would ever act under anybody’s diktat or pressure. Who are they to dictate to us? Dictations are meant for those greenhorn neophytes with no moustache who recently joined or are loitering at the doorsteps eager to join military blocks or other 'non-traditional' partnerships and organizations. 

Russia highly values that India rejects such approaches, does not accommodate alien selfish interests which contradict not only fundamental postulates of the international law, but also elementary common sense, honesty and norms of civilized international behaviour. India, as well as Russia, - both have always been against sanctions, as, let us put it straight, it happened in the early 2000s after you-know which events. We welcome understanding and support of India's government and society of the steps to uphold and strengthen multipolarity, activate and intensify integration process at a global scale and to stand against the aspirations of certain states towards domination or their destructive mixing of political and economic goals.

Major defence deals set to be signed during Putin-Modi summit

The significance of the visit in today's complex international context is as follows: it will reiterate anew that our countries were, are and will be strategic partners, bound by special and privileged cooperation, set to further jointly solve international problems in accordance with their national aspirations, for the sake of international stability, security and peace, equal, free and prosperous development of all states.

Let me draw your attention to some aspects, that create, in my mind, special prerequisites for the success of the upcoming mission. The new government of Prime Minister Modi has taken active steps to impart a new dimension to India's external political and economic course “Look East”, turning it into Act East” program. It is an open secret that Russia has always sought a balance between the West and the East in its foreign policy. Look at the national emblem of my country. The recent steps to tilt Russia’s foreign interests towards Asia are the best channel to strengthen these options and open up new vistas for expanding Russian-Indian cooperation.

The policy of Prime Minister Modi, formulated in his motto “Make in India!” is consonant with Russia's understanding of the situation. To illustrate this, Russia has acted the same way for decades to make India a global power in the making – it is in India that Russian planes, world-best cruise missiles “Brahmos” or Russian-designed tanks are manufactured; and most cutting-edge Russian technologies are being transferred. It is not at all only about the need to reorient economy and industries in the face of Western sanctions, but also to radically shift the accent in our development efforts to enhance domestic production in Russia. In such identity of our aspirations we see an extra impetus to further exploit the existing immense potential of our economic, trade, investment, scientific, technical and humanitarian cooperation. All of this will be prominent points of the agenda of the forthcoming summit.

Putin’s India visit: Focus on economic ties, joint civilian aircraft production

In conclusion, I would like to underline once again: Russia and India have truly boundless opportunities to enhance bilateral interaction. In some articles of your colleagues it was reported that the upcoming summit is to “reboot” Russian-Indian relations. I wouldn’t quite agree with this. Let me remind that the term was taken from technical jargon to describe pathetic changes for the better in Russian-American relations. I wouldn’t comment on what it has resulted in – you extensively write about the looming symptoms of the “Cold War” caused by Western political intrigues. Uncle Sam seems to have both his boots put on wrong legs, defying common sense and comfort, defying real facts and logic. But Russian boots are sturdy and high!

I consider the term “reboot” to be completely out of place in the lexicon of Russian-Indian ties. We have nothing to “reboot”: we have time-tested and mature relations. They have never glitched, in the way a PC sometimes does, but keep gradually developing and reaching new heights today. However, technically speaking I would prefer to say that the visit is called on to provide a powerful “recharge” of the whole gamut of Russian-Indian relations, to give them an additional impetus, dynamics and broaden the spectrum of mutually beneficial partnership, which is really gaining new substance.

I am convinced that these would be the final results of the summit.

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