New Delhi: Foreign Ministers of India and Russia discussed the modalities for the upcoming annual summit of leaders of the two nations. Even the issues like pending delivery of Moscow’s controversial S-400 weapons system to India did not figure out, however, both the Ministers vowed to deepen military-technical cooperation (MTC).

 

“We reiterated our commitment to military-technical cooperation,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said after discussions with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar.

“We have an intergovernmental commission (IGC) on military-technical cooperation. It has its plans, and this includes discussion of additional manufacturing of Russian military equipment on Indian territory.”

 

Jaishankar said the S-400s would be discussed at a meeting of defence ministers later in the year.

The two sides also discussed vaccine cooperation and an expected visit to India of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

India is set to clear the Russia-made Sputnik V Coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, which will make available a third vaccine option for the country, as the country battles a steep resurgence of Covid-19 infections.

To be manufactured by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Sputnik V is a two-dose vaccine which needs to be stored in liquid form at or below -18 degree Celsius.

The meeting comes at a time when the US is pushing Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban to reach a peace deal so it can withdraw the remaining 2,500 American forces from the war-torn country, and amid strained relations between Washington and Moscow. Despite the tensions, Russia has publicly backed the US proposal for an interim government of national unity bringing together the Taliban and Afghan leaders.

“The Taliban movement is part of Afghan society and decisions on the settlement in Afghanistan should foresee the participation of all political, ethnic and religious groups in Afghanistan, otherwise it won’t be durable,” Lavrov said. “And this settlement should reflect a balance of interests of all political, ethnic and religious groups, including their representation in governing structures.”

In a statement which is welcome news to India and yet another step towards strengthening Indo-Russian ties, Russia ruled out any military alliance with China, with Lavrov saying that Moscow supply of military equipment will continue.

While Lavrov did not answer questions about India buying additional regiments of the S-400 air-defence system, he said military ties were deepening and he respected India’s decision to diversify the purchase of military weapons from other countries, a reference to the United States and France. He said Russia was reassured that there was no plan for an Asian NATO.

“I shared our viewpoint on the Indo-Pacific. As our Prime Minister pointed out at the Shangri-La Dialogue some years ago, contemporary challenges require countries to work together in new and different ways,” Jaishankar said.

“By the way, we have heard speculation about pro-military alliances not only with respect to Russia and China relations, we have also heard about such alliances allegedly being promoted such as Middle East-NATO, Asia-NATO. Today we exchanged views on this and our Indian friends have the same position as we. We believe that this is counter-productive,” he said in Russian.

“We are interested in inclusive cooperation that is for something, not against somebody,” Lavrov asserted.

Defence cooperation as well as weapons manufacturing was also discussed during the talks, he said.

At the joint presser after the talks, Jaishankar said the discussions were warm, comprehensive and productive. “We talked about long-standing partnership in nuclear, space and defence sectors.”

He said the discussions also covered the rapidly expanding energy cooperation as well as views were exchanged on regional and global matters.

Such cooperation also reflects the multi-polar and re-balanced character of global politics, Jaishankar said.

India is strongly committed to ASEAN centrality and this is outlined by the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) that it has been advocating at the East Asia Summit (EAS), he said.

“As we implement our Act East and Beyond policy, Russia is a very important partner,” Jaishankar added.

The India and Russia annual summit was postponed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both the countries have a mechanism under which India’s Prime Minister and the Russian President hold a summit meeting annually to review the entire gamut of ties. So far, 20 annual summit meetings have taken place alternately in India and Russia.

Russia has been a time-tested partner for India and the country has been a key pillar of New Delhi’s foreign policy.

-The writer is Consulting Editor with the publication