India’s External Affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s five day-long visit to russia in the final week of 2023 made headlines worldwide as a ground-breaking event, a geopolitical pivot and perceived divergence from the United States-led Western bloc of nations. Even though this was a scheduled meeting and a routine summit that was given a skip by prime minister Narendra Modi, the timing was not lost on anyone. India’s jaishankar, with his elaborate and highly publicised tour, did not hesitate to let the message reverberate in the US-led West that india and russia are always going to be friends, come what may.
And it garnered sharp reactions from Western commentators, proving that the message had landed where it was intended. Some reactions have been less kind and veered into the abyss of outright meltdowns against india and its foreign minister who was joined by Russian President Vladimir Putin to gush about soaring ties between the two nations. A sense of indignation is at the heart of the discord with the Western side tormented by the fact that india, almost two years since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, would still not side with the West and jettison its decades-long bond with russia, and the indian side reeling from the USA and its allies’ controversial posturing on the Khalistani threat to India.When jaishankar says the India-Russia relationship is the only constant in world politics, he means it. “There was great care taken by the leaders, the governments, and the stakeholders of different types to actually nurture and look after this relationship,” he said in a speech in Russia. And the US should take the hint. jaishankar deemed russia as a “valued, time-tested partner” and stood unflinchingly next to Sergei Lavrov at a press conference as the Russian foreign minister criticised the West, and the US in particular for its many interventionist wars such as those in Libya, iraq and Syria.
And it garnered sharp reactions from Western commentators, proving that the message had landed where it was intended. Some reactions have been less kind and veered into the abyss of outright meltdowns against india and its foreign minister who was joined by Russian President Vladimir Putin to gush about soaring ties between the two nations. A sense of indignation is at the heart of the discord with the Western side tormented by the fact that india, almost two years since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, would still not side with the West and jettison its decades-long bond with russia, and the indian side reeling from the USA and its allies’ controversial posturing on the Khalistani threat to India.When jaishankar says the India-Russia relationship is the only constant in world politics, he means it. “There was great care taken by the leaders, the governments, and the stakeholders of different types to actually nurture and look after this relationship,” he said in a speech in Russia. And the US should take the hint. jaishankar deemed russia as a “valued, time-tested partner” and stood unflinchingly next to Sergei Lavrov at a press conference as the Russian foreign minister criticised the West, and the US in particular for its many interventionist wars such as those in Libya, iraq and Syria.
