Event Date : Sunday 9 May
India’s increasing closeness with the US and joining the QUAD (a loose military alliance with US, Japan and Australia ostensibly to contain China) is viewed with optimism in India, but has come at the expense of straining India’s age old relationship with Russia, which has not kept its displeasure a secret. At the same time India’s decision to buy Russia’s S-400 air defence despite repeated warnings of sanctions from the US is testing the limits of the new-found warmness between the two democracies.
India hopes to grow its strategic partnership with the US in areas of common interest, while at the same time retaining its special relationship with Russia. But as US-Russia ties revert to Cold War hostility, will India be able to maintain this delicate balance or will it be forced to choose (once again) one over the other? And who will India choose - the longtime steadfast friend or the new wealthy suitor?