India-Russia decide to strengthen cooperation setting aside differences: Hongkong-based newspaper

New Delhi: – India and Russia have realised that they share the same interests given the threats posed given the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, increasing Chinese influence in the central Asian countries and the United States’ activities in this region. The South China Morning Post, a Hongkong based daily, claimed that this is the reason that both these countries are working towards strong cooperation, leaving aside the past differences. A new era of India-Russia cooperation has started with the recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India.

Moreover, given the Indian inclusion in QUAD and the increasing closeness between India and the United States, Russia had started to express resentment in various ways. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited India last year, also visited Pakistan. India retaliated by the Indian Foreign Minister’s visit to Georgia after his Russia visit. Russia had left India out of the meeting convened on the Afghanistan issue. The news claimed that while the distance between the countries increased, both the nations realised that they must cooperate to safeguard their interests.

Russia had aligned with Pakistan to safeguard its interests in Afghanistan. Pakistan had assured Russia that the Taliban had changed and their approach would not be the same as in the past. But Russia realised no difference in the Taliban approach in time. After that, it initiated moves to stop Afghanistan from going against it, with the help of India and the central Asian countries. Moreover, Russia needs Indian cooperation to stop the increasing Chinese influence in the central Asian countries.