Despite Washington’s concerns – and even warnings of consequences – it has not been able to wean New Delhi away from Russia. Instead, India has decided to deepen its ties with Russia. On the one hand, India’s alliance with Russia not only allows the former to maintain a balance between Russia and the US, but an alliance with Russia also comes with another critical benefit. With Russia being a vocal supporter of multipolarity and India being an ambitious global player itself, a multipolar world is a system that can meaningfully accommodate India, the world’s most populous state now. This was most clearly evident during the recent visit of India’s Prime Minister Modi to Russia.

Washington’s Warnings

“I will look to Prime Minister Modi’s public remarks to see what he talked about but as I said, we have made quite clear directly with India our concerns about their relationship with Russia”, a State Department spokesperson said in a press briefing recently. He further added that the US expects India to “make [it] clear that Russia should respect the UN Charter, should respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” There is, thus, a menu of demands that Washington expects from any country in the world to fulfil before it can (continue to) develop ties with Russia in the current context. Jake Sullivan, the current US National Security Advisor, further said that the US would (continue to) talk to India about the “specifics and the nature” of the latter’s relationship with Russia. If a country, according to this,........

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