Arms trade, economic ties and congruent geo- political interests are no longer the three pillars of India – Russia relationship in the emerging strategic context. Comment.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 right about one pillar, overstated about two → congruence gave the other two their purpose
Route 2 pillars not fallen but turned round → dependence survives, partnership does not
arms still densest → SIPRI: 70 per cent (2011-15) to 40 per cent (2021-25), France/Israel/US take the gap → but India absorbs close to half of Russia’s total exports → dependence inverted, not ended → economy: US$68.7bn but crude four-fifths, Indian exports under five billion → size up, content down → congruence: Indo-Pacific as artificially imposed construct, Lavrov’s Asian NATO, no-limits partnership leaves Russia junior to India’s principal rival → Raja Mohan, rework the great power sums → the cost: no defence deal at the December 2025 summit, Zakharov reads the logistics agreement as technical because outlooks do not align
Nadkarni: autonomy, ageing Russian arsenal, willingness to co-produce → no withering
Route 1 pillars bear weight without giving direction → Raghavan’s transactional as settled form
Route 2 new areas named but not built → managing a dependence, not building a partnership
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
