Path To Peace In Ukraine Likely To Run Through India
Date
11/20/2024 2:06:41 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times)
When Russian President Vladimir Putin visits India at the end of this or the beginning of next year, his meetings will come against the backdrop of New Delhi's principled neutrality on the war in and near Ukraine.
India has always abstained from anti-Russian resolutions tabled at multilateral fora like the United Nations and has refused to comply with the West's sanctions against Russia. At the same time, India has also called for respecting international law and ending the Ukraine war as soon as possible.
Behind the rhetoric, India has served as a release valve for Western pressure on Russia, providing Moscow with a big power alternative to becoming overly dependent on China.
India has become the second-largest buyer of discounted Russian oil behind China, which resulted in bilateral trade exploding to US$65 billion last year from just $12 billion in 2021.
Cheaper oil has fueled India's robust economic growth, which averaged 8.2% last year and is on track to become the world's third-largest economy by 2027 , according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Although the Indian government doesn't abide by Western sanctions against Russia, some of its private financial institutions still do, which has made transferring some of these funds difficult. Russia has thus agreed to invest some of its rupee stockpile in India, which has helped to diversify and rebalance the two sides' trade.
At the same time, India and Russia have prioritized the development of three logistics corridors , none of which has reached its full potential. These include:
the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) through Iran with branches across Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea and Central Asia;
the Vladivostok-Chennai Maritime Corridor between those cities, which is also known as the Eastern Maritime Corridor; and
the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic.
Of these three, the INSTC is the most promising but also the most vulnerable due to reports that returning US President Donald Trump plans to renew his“maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.
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