Putin’s Made India The Swing State In Geopolitics

News: Currently, The Russia-Ukraine War is ongoing. And the Prime Minister of India is going to attend the Quad summit in Tokyo next week.

What are the developments in the Russia-Ukraine war?

Although Ukraine may never become a NATO member, it is being strongly supported by the Western countries.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO. This will infuriate Russia. It will change forever the nature of European security.

What are the consequences of recent developments?

(A) Russian Worries

Russia may end up at the bottom end of the spectrum in terms of global political and economic isolation.

According to reports, Russia’s imports from technologically advanced countries are dropping exponentially. This will impact Russia’s ability to manufacture complex weapons and systems.

The war has pushed the Western countries to seize Russian government and oligarch assets overseas and use that for Ukraine’s reconstruction because Europe is not willing to pay for Russia wrong.

(B) Some European worries

The US is being accused of changing its war aims from Ukraine to Russia. It is putting Europe at the centre of it.

The war has escalated to a position to which Both Russia and Europe had not planned on.

What are the challenges for India?

The Indian leadership had the tough task of doing two things at once – explaining India’s Russia policy due to India’s traditional dependence on Russia, and focussing on partnering with Europe in clean, green, tech-powered development.

The war has led to increase in energy costs, fertiliser costs and general inflation which have become headache for India’s post-pandemic recovery

The war has challenged India’s plan to transition to a less carbonised future. Therefore, the war is rapidly becoming India’s war.

Way Forward

India’s leadership has explained to his European counterparts that India is accelerating its diversification away from Russian military equipment.

The Indian government needs to engage with its international partners and tell them about India’s interest and plans to deal with the current mess.

India needs to address the challenge of rising and asserting China. India should build a partnership with Europe that is clean, green, digital and non-China.

In the new strategic context, India in many respects is acting as a swing state. However, it is in its best interests that it bends its trajectory more to the West. There is a growing space for India. The United States and Europe desire to engage more fundamentally with India. Therefore, India should think big with the US on the Indo-Pacific and global security. 

Source: The post is based on an article “Putin’s Made India The Swing State In Geopolitics” published in the Times of India on 21^st May 2022.