The annual and 20-year-old Russia-India summit was cancelled this year, which triggered speculation, and even quarrels were made in India.
According to a recent Indian media report, Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Indian Congress Party, pointed out that the authorities had “sabotaged traditional relations with Moscow”.
On the 28th, the website of Russia’s Businessman commented that the relationship between Russia and India has become the focus of quarrels between the Indian government and opposition leaders for the first time.
India’s ambassador to Russia, Venkatsh Varma, then came forward to deny that the cancellation of the summit was due to speculation of political friction.
As early as July this year, Indian Prime Minister Modi called Russian President Putin to say that he was ready to meet with the latter at the India-Russia summit this year.
Now, the meeting between the two sides has been postponed. Varma explained that Moscow and New Delhi are preparing for the Russian-India summit meeting, and if the epidemic control situation permits, Russia and India are ready to hold a Russian-India summit in the first half of next year.
At present, the COVID-19 epidemic in India and Russia is still serious. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Health of India on the 28th, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India rose to 102,07771, with a total of 147,901 deaths.
According to the latest data released on Russia’s official website for COVID-19 prevention on the 28th, Russia has confirmed a total of 307,035 cases and 55,265 deaths.
At present, the reasons given by Varma seem reasonable, but it is precisely because the Indian media are not calm.
A recent article on the website of the Indian media “Print Newspaper” said that Putin’s cancellation of his visit to India is not because of the epidemic, but because Moscow and New Delhi have become increasingly alienated due to a series of differences on diplomatic and security issues. One of the factors is Moscow’s dissatisfaction with New Delhi’s participation in the “four-nation mechanism”.
The “four-nation mechanism” composed of the United States, Japan, India and Australia, also known as the “quadruple security dialogue”, has obvious intentions against China and Russia.
At the beginning of October this year, the meeting of foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, India and Australia was held in Tokyo.
The four parties discussed the regional situation, including the East China Sea and South China Seas, and other issues, and stressed that it would promote “free and open India and the Pacific” with more countries.
Immediately afterwards, the “four-nation mechanism” of the United States, Japan, India and Australia also carried out the “Malabar 2020” maritime joint military exercise.
The U.S.-led “four-nation mechanism” not only promotes the establishment of a formal alliance, but also seeks to expand the alliance and absorb more countries in the region, thus piece together the “Asian version of NATO”.
It is worth mentioning that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has previously named and criticized India in response to the “four-nation mechanism”.
According to the website of Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on December 14, Lavrov said at the annual meeting of the Russian think tank Council on International Affairs that India was being manipulated by Western countries to join the “anti-China game” and betrayed Moscow.
Lavrov said that “as Western countries try to involve India in anti-China games”, such as the U.S.-led “Indo-Pacific Strategy and Quadripartite Security Dialogue”, India has become “a target of the persistent, aggressive and insidious policies of Western countries”.
Last September, after meeting with visiting Modi, Russian President Putin said that India was one of Russia’s key partners. Since 2018, India has also ordered a variety of weapons and equipment from Russia, including the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.
However, India and the United States are getting closer and closer to joining the alliance against China and Russia, which is obviously not what Russia like. Now, the postponement of the summit between the two countries has aroused speculation in the Indian media.
