India, Russia explore new areas of cooperation to enhance strategic partnership

In the run up to 19^th India-Russia Annual Summit to be held in New Delhi on Oct 5^th, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Research Foundation (SPMRF) and Russia International Affairs Council (RIAC) jointly organised a two-day conference on 13^th September to discuss various challenges and lay ground for enhancing strategic bilateral ties. Around the same time, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj attended the 23^rd edition of Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural cooperation at Moscow to review bilateral ties. Russia is the only country with which India has such a comprehensive governmental mechanism. The conference “India-Russia in the 21^st century: Enhancing the special privileged strategic partnership” is SPMRF’s maiden attempt to laid firm ground for exploring new areas of cooperation between the two countries. The event which comes days after India and US ratcheted defence partnership through inking of COMCASA, has provided a platform for reorienting longstanding Indo-Russian relations. The power-packed conference comprised sessions on various aspects ranging from strategic affairs, connectivity, defence cooperation, trade and investments and dived into area of Indology for vital soft power deployment.

Welcoming the delegates, director of the Nehru National Memorial Museum and Library (NNML), Shakti Sinha mooted idea of deepening bilateral trade and economic cooperation by expanding connectivity corridors and payment in national currencies, an age-old trade practice. In his key note address, Ambassador of Russian Federation Ivashentsov provided an overview of the Indo-Russian relations that withstood test of time and reminded that both countries still face similar kind of challenges in Chechnya and Kashmir respectively. He called for open and extensive trilateral cooperation under RIC (Russia India China) arrangement and sought concerted attempts in bringing reforms in international financial institutes, energy regimes in Eurasia, climate change pacts. Countries should work in tandem in areas of convergence like countering double standards on human rights, refuting unilateral economic sanctions, resisting burgeoning protectionism, peaceful use of nuclear reactors and cooperation in cyber security.

Inaugurating the meet, Minister of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “I believe that our time-tested relationship has no expiry date. Russia will always be a priority in India’s foreign policy and our countries will remain as a role model for global communities”. Indian PSUs have invested $15 billion till now in Russian oil companies and gas projects like Sakhalin-1 in Far East Russia in 2001. Steady rise of hydrocarbon demands culminated in building a “Energy Bridge” furthering bilateral ties. He reminded that Indo-Russian energy cooperation dates to 1960 and 1970s when India used Soviet Technology for refining oil from Bombay High in Arabian Sea.  At the height of global uncertainty in energy markets, India having chosen to comply with Paris Agreement, pivoted towards natural gas. To have uninterrupted gas supplies, India diversified its LNG supplies. GAIL struck a deal with Russia’s Gazprom for gas supplies. India received first gas shipment at Dahej LNG terminal Gujarat in March. Currently India is using Russia’s “low frequency seismic technology” of gas extraction in Gujarat fields. By consequence energy cooperation has become a durable pillar of bilateral cooperation.

Opening the session on expanding strategic relations between India and Russia, Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council indicated that trade and cross border investments are intricately related. Countries must employ the soft power drivers like encouraging people to people movement and cultural relations to infuse trust in bilateral ties. Dr. Sudhir Kumar Mishra, Director-General (BrahMos) highlighted the phenomenal success of BrahMos project that stands testimony to Indo-Russian defence cooperation. In 1998, India and Russia formed a Joint Venture for development of fastest cruise missile with process stock developed in both countries. India had intergovernmental agreement with Russia for integrated Guided Missile Program (IGMP) instrumental in development of missiles like Nag, Akash and Agni. BrahMos which was initially conceived as anti-ship missile can now be launched from submarine, ship, land and aircraft. India invested $300 million towards development of supersonic missile accruing $10 billion returns. Mishra suggested India must replicate the most lucrative BrahMos business model. Later Dipanjan Roy Chaudhary of The Economic Times mulled at the prospect of India developing trade ties with the Eurasian Economic Union.

Encouraged by the success of Kudankulam nuclear reactors, Andrey Shevlyakov, CEO of Rosatom suggested India to use nuclear technology for border security management. He hailed Indo-Russian bilateral nuclear cooperation and welcomed trilateral nuclear agreement between India, Russia and Bangladesh towards development of nuclear reactor at Ropar, Bangladesh. Mulling over the prospects of India expanding strategic relations with Russia in Arctic Region, Uttam Sinha, Senior Fellow, NNML, suggested that India should join Russia’s oil expedition projects in Arctic region. Since India which is part of 1920 Svalbard treaty as Dominion under the British Kingdom has a right to engage in commercial activity. In 2013, India has become observer member of Arctic and having set up a station Himadri at Svalbard Norway, India is keen on making its entry into Artic region. A partnership with Russia can augur well for India’s interests.

Stressing the need for synergistic scientific cooperation, Prof Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor suggested a three-pronged approach for strengthening scientific cooperation. It includes strategic cooperation, building Major Mission Project for Deep Ocean Human Occupied Submersible and student exchange. Russia has excelled the area of deep ocean explorations and a major mission can thus be mutually beneficial. Russia is way ahead of its peers in the fields of mathematics, statistics and computers and India must explore the possibilities of signing MoUs in these fields for greater collaboration.

Chairing a session on “Role of Indology in India-Russia Strategic Partnership”, Dr. Anirban Ganguly, director of SPMRF indicated the ongoing effort is an exercise to explore and rediscover centuries old Indo-Russian connect to infuse more trust in the relationship. This event is indeed a follow-up of “Third International Conference of Indologists” held at St Petersburg State University in April that instilled new optimism in the oft neglected Indology studies. Scholars Larisa Surgina, Russian curator of the International Roerich Memorial Trust, Achala Moulik Pushkin prize awardee and Neelakshi Suryanarayan highlighted the ties between India and Soviet Union right from the times of first Russian traveller to India Afanasy Nikitin in 1466. They enumerated Russian studies in India, its challenges and prospects. A new enthusiasm in pursuing understudied parts of Indo-Russian connect and including culture and soft power towards fostering strategic partnership is truly unique.

Going by the US canonical definition of Indo-Pacific which refers to Eastern Pacific Ocean Asoke Mukerji, India’s former permanent representative to UN laid out a frame work for Indo-Russian cooperation in four thrust areas. These include utilisation of Chennai-Valdivostok maritime corridor which can bring down transit time to 24 days, creating business links through which India can directly access the raw diamonds in Russia, agriculture cooperation in Russia’s Far-East whereby Indian farmers can cultivate in Russian lands and participation of Small and Medium Enterprises in 16 identified sectors for cooperation with investments routed through AIIB (Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank). He indicated India and Russia can work together in the geopolitically turbulent Western Indo-Pacific region. Russia can fill strategic gap in the region in securing Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) and ensuring safe passage of over $266 billion trade flows through the Bal al Mandeb, Straits of Hormuz through structured maritime cooperation. Countries can deepen counter terrorism cooperation against the militants emanating from the Af-Pak hot spots to protect the Middle East and other countries, work towards expanding and building connectivity projects, blue economy cooperation in tourism and sustainable fisheries and instituting strategic dialogue on stability of Western Indo-Pacific.

Building on the strategic insights provided by Asoke Mukerji, Nandan Unnikrishnan of ORF reinforced need for expediting International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC). He opined that Indo-Pacific can merge with Eurasian land mass abutting Europe and countries can effectively develop connectively networks that till ASEAN for seamless transit of goods. Also, countries should prospect on potentially work together with Iran. Iran is vital for India’s engagement with central Asian countries and Eurasian region and indispensable link in INSTC. Concerted efforts towards making INSTC operational can be beneficial to a spectrum of countries spanning the Western Indo-Pacific region. But hinted that India may not necessarily adopt an anti-western stance.

Broaching on the Russia’s aggressive initiative of Eurasian Economic Integration officially formulated in 2010 for defacto integration, Russian Scholar Yuri Kofner stressed on the need for modernising India’s image to connect with Eurasia and counter the public diplomacy of BRI. He recommended de-dollarization to limit the overwhelming influence of Western financial institutes. Swapan Dasgupta, Rajya Sabha MP suggested that India and Russia should adopt new form of political dialogue. Despite some palpable differences in their pursuit towards fostering national interests, both countries must learn to work synergistically in areas of converging interests. Invoking cultural connections between two countries, Makrand Paranjape spoke about Indophile, Nicolas Roerich, who considered Russia an integral part of Asia as opposed to its current eagerness to extol its European connections. He spoke in length about Roerich’s spiritual adventures, his contribution to art, poetry, and above all his family’s deep-rooted continued association with India. In his concluding remarks, Paranjape, conjectured a plausible mystic reunion of Russia, India and the US expounded by Roerich. Emphasizing on the role of people to people connect and cultural links in strengthening partnership, Director of Russia Centre for Science and Culture, Fyodor Rozovisky  spoke about remarkable work of five Indo-Russian cultural centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram.

Kanwal Sibal, former Ambassador to Russian Federation in the valedictory address suggested that while defence cooperation has been robust pillar of Indo-Russian cooperation, energy cooperation is now emerging as promising area of extensive cooperation. But under the clean energy drive, India is focusing on renewable energy and with time India’s dependence on fossil fuels might taper. Hence countries should intensify cooperation in other areas and preferably in trade, which has immense potential for growth. Further, to cement this vibrant relationship, Russia should take formidable interest in the Make in India initiative. Russia should take a lead in indigenization of the Kudanakulam nuclear reactors. Given its immense space capabilities, India should seek Russian expertise for unmanned space mission. In the past seven decades, Indo-Russian relations have been relatively stable, devoid of marked disagreements. Both countries had each other’s back since establishment of diplomatic ties.

Contemplating on rapidly changing geopolitical equations, Ambassador pondered over Russia’s increasing overarching relationship with India’s antagonistic neighbours China and Pakistan. India shares boundaries with both countries who continue to threaten India’s sovereignty. Simultaneously, Russia is irked by India’s improved relations with America which has now imposed a slew of economic sanctions on Russia. But Sibal pointed that unlike Russian overtures, India’s ties with America are guided by economic, technological and defence interests and wouldn’t pose threat to Russia’s security. Pointing that Russia’s position on CPEC is inimical to India, he expressed concerns over Russia new stance on Taliban, which killed thousands of Russian soldiers as legitimate partner in resolving Afghanistan issue. Allaying Indian concerns Ambassador Ivashentsov pledged Russia’s position wouldn’t be detrimental to India.

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