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New Delhi: A four-way
oil swap between India, Russia, Japan and the Gulf producers would
be a win-win situation for New Delhi and Moscow, a noted strategic
expert said Monday.
"Japan imports the bulk of its oil from the Gulf but this has to
travel a long way. If Russia meets Japan's oil needs, what it
would otherwise buy could go to India. Simultaneously, India must
increase its exposure in Russia's energy sector. It'll be a
win-win situation for India and Russia and the other players
involved," Prabhat Shukla, joint director of privately-funded
think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation.
"In this way, India-Russia trade will also be boosted," Shikla, a
former ambassador to Russia, said in his keynote address at an
international conference on "Emerging Geo-political Trends in
Asia: Prospects and Challenges for India-Russia Relations",
organised by defence ministry-funded think-tank Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
He also felt there was greater scope for India-Russia cooperation
in the areas of defence and the future of Afghanistan.
"There is very little happening in service-to-service cooperation.
There is not enough happening in terms of military exercises. This
is not good for our defence cooperation. This is something that
has to be smoothed over," Shukla maintained.
On Afghanistan, despite tremendous convergence of views, "I can't
see why we are not tackling the issue together", he said.
Despite this, India-Russia relations were "very good, very solid,
very stable. Whenever we have faced a systematic problem, we went
to Russia and we were never let down", Shukla said.
He also thought that India and Russia should resort to a candid
dialogue to sort out any concerns arising out Russia's relations
with China and Pakistan and India's relations with the US.
In this context, Shukla cautioned the West against pursuing
policies that could push Russia closer to China.
"It doesn't suit the West to push Russia on issues like the
ballistic missile defence shield. This will only push Russia
closer to China," he said, adding: "India has absolutely no
interest in a confrontation between the West and Russia."
Speaking on the occasion, Alexander Lukin, vice president of the
Russian foreign ministry's Diplomatic Academy, said India was
"very important" for his country both at the bilateral and
multilateral arenas.
Toward this, he noted that while Russia supports India's bid to
become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO),
"our great Chinese friends are not too enthusiastic".
Lukin also said Russia was going through an important transitional
phase.
"Russia is living through an important transitional period. We
are, in fact, going from one transitional phase to another
transitional phase. We have a new president who is actually an old
president. But Russia is becoming a more normal country. The 1990s
were such a mess," Lukin said
According to Lukin, Russia's foreign policy has become more
consistent and pragmatic.
"It is neither pro-West nor pro-East. It is pragmatic. China
became out first trading partner in 2010," he said.
Welcoming the participants, IDSA Director General Arvind Gupta
said that the geopolitical scene was gradually shifting from the
West to East, adding that despite the contours not being well
defined, India, Russia and China in particular are emerging as
important players.
"It is now fashionable to say that power is shifting from the West
to the East. Russia, India and China are destined to play a major
role in shaping the global order. This will see the emerge of an
Asian security order," Gupta said.
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