The India-Russia relationship is less than meets the eye
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-profile visit to Moscow last week set off a firestorm of criticism in the West. But if you look beyond the hyperbole used to describe India-Russia relations, it becomes obvious that there’s less to the connection than meets the eye. As a weakened Russia grows more dependent on China, India has no choice but to draw closer to the U.S.
That Mr. Modi’s first visit to Russia since 2019 drew rebukes should surprise no one. By choosing Russia rather than a neighboring country for his first bilateral official visit in his third term as prime minister, Mr.
Modi elevated the trip’s significance. Thanks to partially overlapping dates with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s summit in Washington, Mr. Modi’s Moscow sojourn appeared designed to undermine the Biden administration’s efforts to isolate Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
To make matters worse, images of Mr. Modi hugging Vladimir Putin, riding in a golf cart around the Russian strongman’s private residence, and accepting Russia’s highest civilian award—the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle—coincided with horrific pictures of a Russian strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
In a meeting with Mr. Putin, Mr. Modi said that “when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying." But this oblique criticism, which didn’t directly blame Russia for the attack, did nothing to calm critics.
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