Delhi needs to engage with Moscow on the unfolding Sino-Russian naval partnership | The Indian Express

Delhi needs to engage with Moscow on the unfolding Sino-Russian naval partnership | The Indian Express

Written by C. Raja Mohan |Updated: November 26, 2019 10:50:24 am

C. Raja Mohan is Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, and contributing editor on foreign affairs for 'The Indian Express'.

Delhi needs to engage with Moscow on the unfolding Sino-Russian naval partnership

Over the last few years, China and Russia have conducted impressive naval manoeuvres in the Western Pacific, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. The joint exercise with South Africa this week brings the unfolding Sino-Russian naval partnership closer home to India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President of Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. (ANI file photo)

Russia, long seen as marginal to the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean, is rejoining the major power scrum in the contested littoral. Three recent events highlight Russia’s growing strategic interest in the Indian Ocean and should compel Delhi to think of its consequences for India’s own regional strategy.