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Russia's response to new missile defence plans of the US points to Moscow's continued distrust of Washington. However, Moscow and Washington have announced a meeting to discuss the new missile deployment plans in Moscow in late May this year. Perhaps, a breakthrough is still possible.

With India and Russia having a common interest in Afghanistan’s stability, the ensuing big power competition, which is pushing Moscow into a tight Chinese economic embrace, is increasingly turning out to be a challenge.

Since the early 2010s, Russia has greatly expanded its cooperation with Pakistan, venturing into new areas and levels of cooperation and engaging in more frequent consultations. The bilateral ties have been growing despite many inherent challenges, including historical animosity during some periods of the Cold War, political and financial fragility in Islamabad, and Russia’s strategic partnership with India. At the same time, some of these issu

Sino-Indian ties have been going downhill for the last few years. At the BRICS summit, India sought to re-engage Russia more substantively.

Moscow seems to stop halfway when it comes to providing political support for Delhi’s case, steering clear of making any critical remarks towards Islamabad

US’ expected policy shift favouring Moscow aligns with its renewed focus on the Indo-Pacific.

China and Russia both seek closer ties with the Taliban in Kabul, even as they have refrained from fully recognising the regime. This brief explores China’s and Russia’s converging interests in Afghanistan, and argues that their primary concern is a shared existential threat of terrorism from Afghanistan. Beijing and Moscow regard Afghanistan as a potential source of trans-regional instability, and they are adopting a pragmatic approa

India’s ties with Beijing have frayed even as relations with Moscow lose warmth because of their actions

Russia’s growing footprints in Africa provide West African junta-led countries with an opportunity to recalibrate their foreign policy away from traditional western alliances as well as China. But in what ways does Moscow’s re-emergence in the region offer strategic options to these countries?

Leaving Moscow to engage with North Korea may also free China of the burden of having to justify its relations with North Korea in light of Beijing’s increasing business interests with the West

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine follows its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its continued direct support for separatist activities in eastern Ukraine, marking a new chapter in Moscow's geopolitical approach. China's response and its overt diplomatic, financial, and economic support for Russia was also noteworthy. This brief assesses the contours of the new geopolitical formation (the ‘DragonBear’, a term coined by this author)

The shift began with the election of Trump who refused to go by conventional thinking on Russia.

The 70th anniversary of Russia-India relations is an opportune time to make a comprehensive assessment of the current state of their cooperation, keeping in mind the long history of friendship between the two countries. In the last few years, India and Russia have been struggling to retain the legacy of their long-term relationship while moving beyond the traditional spheres of cooperation to reach new heights. To expand their bilateral agenda,

Despite sharing a close historical relationship based on the Soviet Union’s support during the 1971 Liberation War, Bangladesh had for long been out of the scope of Russia’s foreign policy priorities. This is best exemplified by the fact that no Soviet/Russian foreign minister had visited the country until September 2023. However, amid Western sanctions due to its war in Ukraine and tensions with the US, Russia is seeking to reinvigorate ties

This report is the text of a presentation made at a seminar on ’Military-technical Cooperation between Russia and India: Status and Perspectives for Cooperation’, organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation and Unity for Russia Foundation, on October 5-7, 2007 in Moscow.

Is the United States in the process of creating a brand new Muslim bloc? If that be the case, it would know that the execution of the plan necessarily involves the cessation of Kosovo from Serbia in the name of "Self-Determination". This, Russia will not allow at any cost. Belgrade is Moscow's Slav ally. And, in a complex way, the Albanian-Serb and the Washington-Moscow stand-off links up with the global scramble for energy source

Long sidelined by Islamabad, Moscow, and Beijing, New Delhi is finally taking a seat at the table.

During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh¿s early-December 2005 visit to Moscow, India and Russia signed landmark agreements to further cement their defence cooperation that dates back to almost half a century. These include an agreement on the defence of intellectual property rights that prevents either side from using technologies received from the other without special permission, joint construction of a multi-purpose transport plane

The India-Russia military technical relationship has withstood the test of time. Despite strains since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the relationship has remained highly critical both in terms of the level of trust between the two states and the imperatives of sustaining a military-technical relationship to counter the growth of Chinese power. A more synergistic military-technical is possible, and Moscow and New Delhi must explore ways to con

New Delhi’s relations with Moscow continue to be good, but the long-term prognosis is complicated, especially by China.

Global energy markets have battled continuous uncertainty over the past three years, disrupted first by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, and by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. India has been adept at navigating both these disruptions, using economic diplomacy to position itself favourably in the geopolitics of oil. New Delhi’s delicate balancing of its political relationship with both Washington DC and Moscow has been accompanied

Delhi wants to remain an Eurasian power, swinging between East and West according to its priorities. Its military ties with Moscow. The economic importance of Beijing. America as a strategic counterweight – as long as it works.

This paper explains Russian co-option of India into the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) at a high level of participation in September 2019 and the range of agreements involved. It argues that the co-option was the result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dissatisfaction with the economic outcomes so far for the Russian Far East of “northeast Asian regional cooperation.” Moscow related this behaviour to skewed priorities of East Asia’s �

Kerry's Russia visit signals Washington reaching out to Moscow and is the first sign towards normalising the US-Russia relationship. However, it will be prudent to say nothing more than that for now.

The Russia-India-China trilateral meet is New Delhi’s attempt to overcome challenges in ties with Moscow and Beijing

When a government yields to every pressure group at home, its capacity to pursue national interests abroad inevitably erodes. The UPA government's diplomacy in the final months of its decade-long tenure is a good example of the costs of violating this canon. The failure to clinch a commercial agreement on Kudankulam with Moscow is not a reflection on India's diplomatic skills.

If efforts to dilute tensions between the West and Russia fail, Delhi will have to intensify its engagement with Moscow to develop the relationship as leverage against what is perceived to be India's primary strategic challenge - the rise of China. India and Russia will have to creatively use various forums to circumscribe Chinese power.

The Chinese and Russians have replaced the US and the West as the lead singers in the international orchestra for Indo-Pak amity. Instead of telling them to mind their own business, Modi appears to have recognised that he can use the weight of Beijing and Moscow to facilitate India's engagement with Pakistan.

Moscow’s relations with the collective West have fragmented, improving Russia’s relations with the non-western powers that include nations considered pariah states by the West

NATO is at a crossroads. While it may have found an immediate purpose in responding to Russia, its challenges extend beyond Moscow.

Like Moscow and New Delhi, Riyadh and Islamabad are old allies. There are numerous issues which will ensure that closeness between New Delhi and Riyadh will not cause bilateral ties to spiral downward. If Riyadh gives up on Islamabad, the latter will move closer to Tehran, something the Saudis want to avoid.

The Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and the Experimental Creativity Centre, Moscow have initiated a collaborative research project on Radical Islam. The first meeting under this project took place in Moscow on the 8th and 9th of October, 2009.

The third meeting of ORF's Indo-Russian dialogue was held in Moscow on 5 - 6 October 2009. India's Russian partner in this dialogue is the Russkiy Mir Foundation headed by Mr. Vyacheslav Nikonov who is also President of the Unity for Russia Foundation.

The First Meeting of the ORF-Russia non-official Dialogue jointly organised by ORF and two Russian NGOs, Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and the Polity Foundation was held in Moscow in October 2007.

Battlefield conditions and operational realities will decide terms of Russia-Ukraine peace settlement

The Indian President's presence at the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II in Russia on May 9 is in part about extending New Delhi's solidarity with Moscow at a time when many Western leaders have decided not to show up in protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy in Ukraine.

Moscow took serious note of the event and President Dmitry Medvedev sent his envoy to the northwest region Ilya Klebanov and Deputy General-Prosecutor Aleksandr Gutsan to Kaliningrad for an emergency meeting

While Moscow's core demands remain unchanged, its secondary demands have evolved. Among other things, it no longer objects to Ukraine joining the EU.

The US would be foolish to deepen the new Cold War atmosphere by trying to isolate Russia over Ukraine developments. As for China, that option is simply not open to them any more. The reason is that the Americans need cooperation from Moscow to deal with Syria, Iran and Afghanistan.

Moscow’s relevance to Delhi’s strategic calculus irks Washington

Russia and North Korea signed the Treaty on Comprehensive Partnership in June 2024, signalling the re-establishment of their strategic ties. Following the treaty, a number of tactical developments have occurred, including the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia and Moscow’s support for North Korea’s nuclear and military modernisation. While their cooperation has been typically viewed through tactical and operational lenses, little att

While Russia has been very careful of not antagonising China, which has emerged as Moscow's second largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific, Beijing is uncomfortable by the nature of Moscow's involvement in Hanoi.

Africa has become essential to Russia’s geostrategic posture as Moscow seeks to overcome the backlash to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, in the face of isolation and a contracting economy, Russia has realised that cultivating an entry point in Africa through conventional means such as foreign direct investment (FDI), trade, development assistance, or cultural and educational exchanges may not be its best option. Instead, Mosc

This paper outlines the development of Russia’s relations with the countries of Southeast Asia, focusing on the years after 2014. As relations with the West reached a new post-Cold War low, Moscow has intensified its efforts at building stronger ties with the East. The paper deals with the impact of these developments on the state of its political, economic and defense engagement in Southeast Asia, both bilaterally and multilaterally. It will s

The Ukraine crisis may have effectively ended the rapprochement between the USand Russia, and in turn affecting relations such as those of Japan and Russia. Prior to this crisis,and the subsequent Western sanctions on Russia, Tokyo and Moscow had been reaching out toeach other, and hope flickered for a resolution to the territorial dispute over the NorthernTerritories or Southern Kurils. This paper argues that with nationalist governments in powe

Russia’s policy towards South Asia has been the subject of much speculation lately. With closer cooperation between Russia and China and the former’s warming up to Pakistan, it is becoming increasingly evident that Russia is moving away from its India-centric approach in the region. This brief studies the changes, and continuity, in Moscow’s foreign policy towards South Asia as it transitioned from the Soviet Union into the Russian Federati

Russia is now the world’s most heavily sanctioned country, with unprecedented punitive action targeting its energy exports, central bank, and other sectors. Given Russia’s economic resilience amid such economic restrictions and India’s dependence on Russia for its defence and energy requirements, this issue brief highlights the economic rationale for New Delhi to maintain existing trade ties with Moscow despite continued geopolitical pressu

Ukraine’s bold move is intended to impress Kyiv’s western arms patrons, which could pave the way for a settlement with Russia