India Strengthens Defense and Energy Ties With Russia

[Purveyor]

Source: Moscow Times




Reuters
Dec. 11 2014 18:59
Last edited 18:59

NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that Russia will remain India's top defense supplier, even though New Delhi's options had improved since the end of the Cold War.

Modi spoke after a one-day summit that sought to revive a relationship that peaked in the Soviet era. The two sides signed billions of dollars of deals in nuclear power, oil and defense.

In the biggest, state-owned Rosatom will build 12 nuclear reactors in India, oil major Rosneft signed a 10-year crude supply deal with Essar Oil and India agreed to assemble 400 Russian multi-role helicopters a year.

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"Even if India's options have increased, Russia remains our most important defense partner," Modi, 64, told reporters after the first formal summit between the leaders since he won election in May.

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/india-strengthens-defense-and-energy-ties-with-russia/513168.html

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Crimea Leader Makes A Surprise Visit To India


December 11, 2014 2:18PM ET
by Jyoti Thottam

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday, but the meeting between the two longstanding allies was overshadowed by an unannounced guest: Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov.

Aksyonov, the Moscow-backed leader of a region that Russian forces annexed from Ukraine in February, tagged along on Putin’s trip, holding “unofficial” trade talks in Mumbai and New Delhi. Aksyonov did not meet with any Indian officials, but Russian diplomats in India joined him for the meetings. An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said he was “not officially aware” of Aksyonov’s trip, but it is unlikely that a foreign elected official could have arrived in India without official knowledge.

The bizarre episode reveals the subtext of an otherwise anodyne visit: a Russian leader looking to provoke his adversaries at any opportunity and an Indian prime minister playing both sides of the standoff between Russia and the West.

Putin arrived in India less than a week after delivering a fiery speech accusing the West of trying to destroy the Russian economy. The United States and Europe imposed sanctions on Russia in March, restricting the travel of prominent Russian businessmen and officials, to protest Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine. The European Union estimates that the economic impact so far has been modest. But Putin says the sanctions, rather than falling oil prices, are to blame for Russia’s downturn. "Whenever anyone thinks Russia has become strong, they resort to this instrument," Putin said in his address.

more...

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/11/crimea-leader-makesasurprisevisittoindia.html

[closeupready]

1. "bizarre episode"? No, don't think so. India was always closer to Russia

(and the Soviet Union) than they were to the West. What's supposed to be bizarre about that?

I mean, I guess if you were born yesterday then you'd characterize it as 'bizarre' since you'd not know much about international relations, but for those of us who know our history, there's nothing bizarre about this.

[pampango]

3. I think the 'bizarre' aspect was not Putin visiting India but the Crimean leader who tagged along

then did not meet with any Indian leaders.

Speaking to reporters after signing a memorandum of understanding to promote business, Aksyonov said his visit had "a private character" and he did not take apart in any official events. He tweeted separately, however, that he had come to India as "a member of the delegation under the leadership of the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin."

The towering 42-year-old, previously an obscure nationalist politician, was elected in a closed session of the regional parliament after Russian forces in February took control of the Crimea Peninsula in a bloodless operation.

A spokesman for India's External Affairs Ministry said he was not officially aware of the Crimean visit. It is highly unlikely, however, that such an event would have taken place without New Delhi being in the loop.

Modi, addressing a joint news conference after meeting Putin ... No potentially awkward questions were allowed at the tightly stage-managed event held at an old princely palace.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/crimean-leader-s-stay-in-india-not-deliberately-timed-to-coincide-with-putin-s-visit-indian-official/513122.html

He says his visit is "private" but he is "a member of the delegation ...". India says they don't officially know he is there, but that is hard to imagine in real life.

I think that qualifies as 'bizarre'.

At the end of Obama's visit in January it will be interesting to see if there is a joint press conference with the potential for "awkward questions".

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. There's more to the world than DC, London, Paris, and Bonn.

[Recursion]

4. Not sure it's "bizarre"; India has long had a strategic partnership with USSR/Russia to scare China

That's what I'd do if China were regularly incursing on my borders too.