RUSSIAN TILT TOWARDS PAKISTAN AND INDIAN INSECURITIES

Abstract

The US intimacy with India has altered the balance of power in South Asia. The series of defence partnership agreements signed between the US and India coupled with the US resentment over CPEC has isolated and distanced Pakistan from the US. Moreover,
growing international pressure, constrained and curbed choices along with controlled chaos, and shifting alliances in the region has pushed Pakistan to seek collaboration with Russia. Currently, both states have joined hands under the umbrella of One Belt
One Road initiative with the ambition of connecting CPEC with EAEU. The idea of economic integration in the future is cemented by broader military coordination and improvement of people-to-people linkages. Since 2014, Russia officially elevated the ban
on selling weapons to Pakistan, revived a joint working group on counterterrorism and international issues, the joint military friendship drills are now also conducted annually. India is not contented with this new substitute in the regional equation. The
momentum of improvement in relations between Pakistan and Russia has heightened Indian insecurities. The multi-vector Russian policy and its tilt towards Pakistan can compromise and endanger Indian interests regionally and internationally. This paper
attempts to comprehend the nature of Indian insecurities in the backdrop of the emerging Russian-Pakistan nexus.