By C Raja Mohan<\/p>\n
The difficult negotiations over Ukraine open the door to a potential restructuring of relations among the US, Europe, and Russia. But Delhi must first correct the distortion in its Russia policy<\/p>\n
President Vladimir Putin\u2019s visit to India this week \u2014 his first in four years \u2014 comes in the midst of intensifying peace efforts in Ukraine. It offers Delhi an opportunity to reinvent the relationship with Russia that is much-valued but performs well below potential and is rather skewed.<\/p>\n
Despite\u00a0Delhi\u2019s ritual celebration of Moscow as India\u2019s \u201cbest friend forever\u201d, the reality is less flattering. Indo-Russian ties have been reduced to a thin gruel over the years. Its narrow government-to-government interface has little traction among India\u2019s new elites or its dynamic private sector. The Russian presence in Indian public life is a faint echo of the Soviet past. In Moscow too, India remains marginal to the Russian elites preoccupied with America, Europe, and China. If the relationship has endured, it is thanks largely to Putin\u2019s personal commitment rather than a structural Russian interest.<\/p>\n