By Mubasshir Mushtaq,James Slavyanski
NEW DELHI (AA) – Russia's intervention in Ukraine has left President Vladimir Putin largely isolated but analysts say the signing of 20 agreements with India show an attempt to rekindle a decades-old trusted, but "jaded", relationship.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself spent much of his time, since taking office in May, touring nine countries in an attempt to remould India's foreign policy around pragmatism.
“Modi has outsmarted foreign policy watchers with significant number of agreements with Russia,” said Mustafa Khan, an independent analyst, known for his criticism of Modi. Khan welcomed the growing strategic ties with Russia. “In welcoming the Russian leader, Modi has broken ground to invite foreign investment from a long trusted friend.”
The longstanding strategic and defense relationship between India and Russia, which extends to the Cold War, had become strained in recent years as both sought relationships with other countries. Notably, India was irked earlier this year by a deal for Russia to supply attack helicopters to Pakistan, who India has fought three wars with.
“Modi is keeping a safe distance from the United States and Pakistan. His predecessor signed nuclear deal with the U.S. which was the greatest achievement in Indo-American relations. Now he is attempting an equilibrium with Russia,” Khan said.
India and Russia signed agreements in the field of defence, nuclear energy, oil exploration and other areas like combating terrorism and tackling extremism.
“It’s a win-win situation for both the countries,” Khan said highlighting that Russia’s decision to manufacture its most advanced helicopter in India would push Modi’s ‘Make-in-India’ campaign.
According to data from March 2014, Russia accounted for 75 percent of arms supplies to India between 2009 and 2013, with the U.S. a distant second, supplying only 7 percent.
One of the standout agreements for India was for it to manufacture Russia's most advanced helicopters, a move that bolstered Modi's "Make in India" campaign to boost the country's manufacturing industry.
“Assembling 400 helicopters is not really what one would call grand today,” said Harish Nambiar, an independent journalist and writer.
Nambiar cautioned that such the wide-ranging agreement on energy cooperation, ranging from oil to nuclear, increases risks for India.
Many Indian analysts say Russia is more interested in Asia after the United States and European Union imposed sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis.
“Russia is keen to diversify its energy resources not just to India but whole of Asia,” Khan said, adding that it has already signed a 30-year contract to supply gas to China.
Nambiar, however, said that the “ostracization” of Russia over Ukraine is an exaggeration.
“The idea that the West is a monolithic whole has degenerated, Angela Merkel notwithstanding,” he said. “I do feel that fears of Russian ostracization from the world community of nations on Ukraine are rather over-exaggerated because the Chinese have squared the flat world at odd angles disrupting a clear, spherical idea of globe."
Yuriy Ushakov, personal aide to president Putin, said before the meeting that the agreements "would reflect the mutual desire of the two countries to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and coordination in the international arena on issues of global and regional agendas."
Ushakov emphasized the key role Russia had played in helping India build a nuclear power plant in Kudankulam, in southern state Tamil Nadu, something the two countries agreed to build on with greater cooperation in the future.
"In the construction of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, the most advanced and safe technological solutions in the field of peaceful atomic energy usage were applied," Ushakov said. "At present, the station meets the so-called post-Fukushima safety requirements."
Next summer, the second unit of the plant will go into operation. An agreement has been signed to construct an additional two units for the plant with Russian help, while Modi and Putin pledged on Thursday to build at least 10 more.
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