Russia Review by Ambassador P S Raghavan | September 2019
Overview • India unveils its Act Far East policy in Vladivostok • Ukraine: furore in the US, but progress at home • News snippets: elections, Google/Facebook, France, Israel, Syria The Indo-Pacific enters the India-Russia partnership Prime Minister Modi combined his attendance at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok with the annual India-Russia summit […]
Russia Review by Ambassador P S Raghavan | August 2019
Overview • Inching towards a Russia-West rapprochement• The Idlib headache in Syria continues• Russia sings the right tune on Article 370 Russia-West engagement intensifies There is now a discernible change in the tempo and tenor of Russia’s engagement with the West. The tentative steps forward in relations with the US (Review, 6 […]
Russia Review by Ambassador P S Raghavan | June & July 2019
Presidents Trump and Putin re-engage After meticulous preparation in May (see RR 5/19), Presidents Trump and Putin met on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Osaka on June 28. The atmosphere was cordial, but both sides avoided the mistake of overdoing the effusiveness or disclosure of detail about the discussion, which contributed to the […]
Russia Review by Ambassador P S Raghavan | May 2019
A US-Russia Summit in prospect again The Trump Administration launched a fresh initiative to resume summit-level discussions with Russia on bilateral and international issues. The stage for this was set by the conclusions of the Mueller Report on Russian Interference in the US Presidential Elections in 2016 which, while confirming Russian disinformation and social media […]
Russia Review by Ambassador P S Raghavan | April 2019
Uncertain impact of new Ukraine President Russian official reactions to the election of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as President of Ukraine were subdued. Russia’s MFA alleged various irregularities, including disenfranchisement of large numbers of southeast Ukrainian (Donbas) citizens, but acknowledged that the result was genuinely decisive. The President-elect’s campaign pronouncements did not hold out much hope of […]
Russia Review by Ambassador P S Raghavan | March 2019
Fault line on Venezuela Russian criticism of the US-led move to replace Venezuelan President Maduro crystallized into a veto of a US draft resolution at the UN Security Council (February 28), calling for restoration of democracy, fresh elections and recognition of self-proclaimed interim President Guaidó. The resolution got the requisite nine votes for, but the […]
Russia Review by Ambassador P S Raghavan | February 2019
Russia balances India and Pakistan President Putin was among the first world leaders to send a condolence message to the Indian President and PM, condemning the terrorist attack of February 14 in Pulwama, asserting that “those who ordered it and carried it out” should be “duly punished”, and offering to further strengthen bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation. […]