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A message for US and China as India and Russia put two and two together
- A meeting of the Indian and Russian foreign and defence ministers has a purpose beyond clearing up bilateral misunderstandings, experts say
- New Delhi reminds US of its strategic autonomy and soothes Russian qualms about Quad. Moscow tells Beijing it will keep selling arms to China’s Himalayan rival
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The decision by India and Russia to hold a “two-plus-two” meeting of their foreign and defence ministers is meant not only to clear up misunderstandings in their bilateral relationship, but to send a signal to both the United States and China, experts have said.
New Delhi was keen to demonstrate that it retained its “strategic autonomy” in a signal to Washington, said Kanwal Sibal, a former Indian foreign secretary. The US has been trying to wean India off of Russian influence and has tried to discourage it from buying weapons from Moscow, its largest defence supplier, by threatening it with sanctions.
Meanwhile Moscow was keen to show Beijing that despite their relatively warm ties it planned to continue supplying advanced weaponry to New Delhi – a sore point for China which has spent much of the past year in a military stand-off with India over their disputed Himalayan border.
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“The signal to China is politically important,” said Sibal. “It is Russia’s way of telling China that their close strategic relations will not limit Russia’s choices with India and that the strands of its policy are independent of each other. It also means that Russia will continue to supply advanced weapons to India.”
MEETING OF FRIENDS
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