{"id":41461,"date":"2024-07-08T12:28:22","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T06:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=41461"},"modified":"2025-10-11T11:41:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T06:11:53","slug":"indian-pm-on-a-two-day-visit-to-moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/indian-pm-on-a-two-day-visit-to-moscow\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian PM on a Two-Day Visit to Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What Makes the Indian PM\u2019s Visit to Russia Special this Time?<\/li>\n<li>Significance of the Indian PM\u2019s Visit to Russia<\/li>\n<li>Key Areas of Engagement Between India &#8211; Russia<\/li>\n<li>Challenges for India in Maintaining its Ties with Russia<\/li>\n<li>Way Ahead for India<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian Prime Minister will be on a crucial 2-day visit to Moscow for the India-Russia annual summit, which has been ongoing since 2000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What Makes the Indian PM\u2019s Visit to Russia Special this Time?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First since Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This will be the first bilateral meeting between the Indian PM and Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/li>\n<li>The two leaders have met a total of 16 times since 2014. The Indian PM last went to Russia for the Eastern Economic Forum meeting in Vladivostok in (Sept) 2019.<\/li>\n<li>The Russian President last visited India in December 2021 for the annual bilateral summit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Traditions broken:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In choosing Russia for his first bilateral visit after being sworn in, the Indian PM has broken with the tradition of India\u2019s new PM travelling first to a neighbouring country.<\/li>\n<li><strong>For example, <\/strong>he visited Bhutan in June 2014 and Maldives and Sri Lanka in June 2019.<\/li>\n<li>He travelled to Italy last month, but that was for a multilateral meeting of <strong>G7 leaders<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of the Indian PM\u2019s Visit to Russia:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A foreign policy priority:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Russia and India relationship is seven decades old. The USSR era generosity and friendship has been carried over to the relationship with Russia.<\/li>\n<li>The strategic partnership&#8217;s strongest pillar is unquestionably defence today, but collaboration in space and nuclear matters is also significant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Global significance:<\/strong> Their bilateral meeting comes around the same time as leaders of the 32 nations in the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/north-atlantic-treaty-organization-nato\/\" target=\"_blank\">North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)<\/a> gather in Washington DC to celebrate 75 years of the anti-Russia military alliance.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Russia\u2019s deepening ties with China:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Over the years, as India has diversified its relationships in a multi-polar world, the India-Russia relationship has stagnated in some areas.<\/li>\n<li>On the other hand, <strong>Russia is getting closer to China<\/strong>, which has provided a diplomatic and economic lifeline for Moscow during the western sanctions imposed due to its conflict with Ukraine.<\/li>\n<li>Though Russia does not transfer to any other country the military technologies shared with India, <strong>India must constantly verify<\/strong> the weaponry and technologies that Moscow supplies to Beijing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Key Areas of Engagement Between India &#8211; Russia:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Defence:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The USSR was India\u2019s main supplier of defence equipment during the decades of the Cold War.<\/li>\n<li>Today, <strong>60 &#8211; 70% of India\u2019s defence equipment<\/strong> is estimated to be of Russian and Soviet origin.<\/li>\n<li>Defence cooperation has evolved over time from a buyer-seller framework to one involving <strong>joint R&amp;D, co-development and joint production.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>India and Russia have signed agreements for\n<ul>\n<li>The supply of <strong>S-400 Triumf mobile surface-to-air missile systems<\/strong>, MiG-29 fighter aircraft, and Kamov helicopters, and<\/li>\n<li>The licensed production of T-90 tanks, Su-30MKI fighters, AK-203 assault rifles, and BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>The <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ins-vikramaditya\/\" target=\"_blank\">INS Vikramaditya<\/a>, one of the Indian Navy\u2019s two aircraft carriers, is the former Soviet and Russia warship Admiral Gorshkov.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oil boost:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, <strong>India has been buying large amounts of Russian oil at a discount<\/strong> to cushion the inflationary impact of rising crude prices.<\/li>\n<li>In the face of international criticism, the Indian External Affairs Minister reiterated that India would continue to buy Russian oil in the interest of Indian consumers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Trade:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The purchase of Russian crude has pushed bilateral trade volumes beyond expectations and targets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Before the war,<\/strong> the bilateral trade target was set at $30 billion by 2025. However, bilateral trade reached an all-time high of $65.70 billion in FY 2023-24.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Challenges for India in Maintaining its Ties with Russia:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Balance of trade heavily in Russia\u2019s favour<\/strong>: India\u2019s imports from Russia amounts to $61.44 billion. These were mostly made up of Russian oil and petroleum products, fertilisers, mineral resources, precious stones and metals, and vegetable oils.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Walking diplomatic tightrope:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>New Delhi has not explicitly condemned the Russian invasion but expressed concern over threats of nuclear war issued by Russian leaders.<\/li>\n<li>India has abstained from voting against Russia in several resolutions at the UNSC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Maintaining ties with western nations:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Russia-Ukraine war has put India in a delicate diplomatic position with its Western allies.<\/li>\n<li>This is evident from a series of meetings between India and the West, just before the Indian PM\u2019s visit to Russia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Looked upon as mediator: <\/strong>There is a perception that India is positioning itself as a neutral player that could be a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Presence of Indians in Russia:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Some of the Indians in Russia are believed to have been \u201cmisled\u201d into joining the war in Ukraine.<\/li>\n<li>New Delhi has asked for their early discharge, and the issue is expected to be discussed during the Indian PM\u2019s visit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Way Ahead for India:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s core concern will be its defence relationship with Russia.<\/li>\n<li>The Moscow-Beijing embrace is against Indian strategic interests.<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, the Indian PM\u2019s visit will seek\n<ul>\n<li><strong>To strengthen historical ties between the two countries, and<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>To ensure that Beijing does not become a factor in the relationship<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q.1. How has Russia helped India in space?<\/h3>\n<p>India-Russia vibrant space partnership includes space propulsion engineering, cryogen engine construction, satellite navigation, and establishing ground stations for receiving communication signals.<\/p>\n<h3>Q.2. What is the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS)?<\/h3>\n<p>The RELOS between India and Russia will facilitate various military exchanges, including exercises, training, port calls, and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/world-news\/pm-modi-to-visit-russia-at-time-when-moscow-is-deepening-embrace-with-china-124070800072_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PM Modi to visit Russia at time when Moscow is deepening embrace with China<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-with-russia-as-pm-modis-first-bilateral-visit-this-term-its-importance-for-india-9438999\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Indian PM will visit Russia for the first time in five years at a time when Moscow is deepening its embrace of New Delhi\u2019s rival, China<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}