On October 19, 2017, Russian International Affairs Council held a traditional “urban breakfast” — Úrbi et órbi — at Dostoyevsky library. Gleb Ivashentsov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, RIAC member, and Ksenia Kuzmina, RIAC Russia-India Project Coordinator, made lectures on the common topic «70 Years of Russia-India Relations: What’s Next?»
On October 19, 2017, Russian International Affairs Council held a traditional “urban breakfast” — Úrbi et órbi — at Dostoyevsky library. Gleb Ivashentsov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, RIAC member, and Ksenia Kuzmina, RIAC Russia-India Project Coordinator, made lectures on the common topic «70 Years of Russia-India Relations: What’s Next?»
Gleb Ivashentsov noted in his speech that Russia-India relations have a long history, and Moscow and Delhi never had any significant contradictions. Over time, partnership between the states took on new forms, becoming only stronger. Today, the interest of the two countries to intensify this cooperation is growing, and at the moment has the status of a particularly privileged strategic partnership. The key areas of Russian-Indian cooperation are energy, space, and military-technical cooperation (MTC). In addition, the countries share a common vision of global issues of the world agenda. The states actively cooperate both on a bilateral basis and within international organizations, such as the BRICS and the SCO. Russia supports India in its desire to become a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Ksenia Kuzmina, supporting the key theses of Gleb Ivashentsov, also noted the weak points of Russian-Indian relations. Despite active dialogue between the countries, the level of direct contacts between the two peoples as well as the level of mutual understanding do not meet mutual expectations. Often, the Indians form their vision of Russia, based not on personal assessments, but on the opinion of Western observers. Moreover, cooperation in the field of the media opposed to the close interaction between the governments of the two states is at a low level. There is only one journalist from an Indian newspaper who works in Moscow. The expert noted the need to develop mutual understanding, both at the level of civil society, and at the level of the private sector and political elites. In this regard, Ksenia Kuzmina spoke about the RIAC activities in this area to promote strengthening of mutual understanding and the resolution of contradictions between the two states. RIAC not only publishes analytical materials, but also facilitates a direct and open discussion among experts, providing a venue for conferences, forums, and roundtables. One of the latest examples is the international conference "Strategic Visions of Russia-India Relations and Changes in the World Order" that was held on October 12–13 in Moscow.
Within the framework of the event, RIAC made a presentation of a joint RIAC-VIF (Vivekananda International Foundation) report «70th Anniversary of Russia-India Relations: New Horizons of Privileged Partnership», and Gateway House analytical center Policy Brief «Russia – India Energy Cooperation: Trade, Joint Projects, and New Areas».
