The Hindu : An enduring friendship

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 06, 2002

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An enduring friendship

INDIA AND RUSSIA have reaffirmed a long-standing friendship through the adoption of the Delhi Declaration on Further Consolidation of Strategic Partnership and the other protocols signed and decisions taken in the course of the visit by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. With both countries struggling to define their relations with other major players on the global stage — in a situation where the rules of international politics are in a state of flux and where the terms of the economic interaction between nations are being re-set — this specific encounter between the Indian and Russian leaderships was of significance for the affirmation of continuity and mutual reassurance that it symbolised. What has added substance is the reinforcement of the faith that there is a real convergence of perspectives on issues as wide-ranging as the phenomenon of terrorism, ensuring the security of nuclear weapon stockpiles in a world facing a new assortment of threats and challenges, the conservation and promotion of multipolarity in global politics, the need for country-specific adjustments in the course of globalisation, and on issues specific to South, Central and West Asia. Russia's belief that India can and should make a substantial contribution to the evolution of a strong global consensus on these issues was revealed in its open support of the Indian campaign for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. The two sides have also made an earnest effort to address the deficiency in bilateral trade which stands in such marked contrast to the very wholesome relationship they share in almost every other sphere.

Russia's unambiguous endorsement of the position that any dialogue with Pakistan can only be initiated after Islamabad has brought a complete end to cross-border infiltration by terrorists and eliminated the terrorist infrastructure within its soil or territory controlled by it would be welcomed by the ruling dispensation in New Delhi. So too would Russia's concurrence with its judgment that the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration provide the sole framework within which any India-Pakistan dialogue should eventually take place. A note of caution would not however be out of order. If Russia has adopted New Delhi's language in the part of the Declaration that deals with India-Pakistan relations so too has India taken on board Moscow's formulations in respect of the weaponisation of outer space. Since India was among the first, and few, countries to support the space-based missile defence plans of the U.S. administration, its endorsement of the Declaration could be interpreted as signalling a reversal of its stand. The Declaration could indeed prove to be inherently weak if it is of the nature of a crude compromise or trade off rather than being the statement of a concord based on sound reasoning and principle.

While no country was specifically named in that part of the Declaration wherein reference was made to the concerns that terrorist groups might come into possession of weapons of mass destruction, Mr. Putin had left little room for ambiguity in the interview he had given to this newspaper on the eve of his visit. Although Islamabad has strenuously and repeatedly refuted Mr. Putin's charge that Pakistan's ability to ensure secure storage of its nuclear weapon material was suspect, the Russian leader has not backtracked. To interpret Mr. Putin's comments on this matter as being intended to woo India at the outset of his visit would be to read it too narrowly as there is no real need for any Russian President to vindicate some of the extreme suspicions harboured by some elements on the Indian side. In that case those charges are either based on hard evidence or were intended to deflect attention from the suspicions that have been aired, from time to time, that control over Russia's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction is not all that secure. New Delhi would do better to take a close look into this matter rather than take pleasure in Pakistan's discomfiture.

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