India last week broke its silence on the Russia-NATO tensions around Ukraine by saying that it backed "a peaceful resolution of the situation through sustained diplomatic efforts for long term peace and stability in the region and beyond." The Ministry of External Affairs said the government was "closely following the developments relating to Ukraine including ongoing high-level discussions between Russia and the U.S." Russia has mobilised about 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine and deployed tanks and missile defence systems in Belarus, which also shares a border with Ukraine. While Russia has denied any plan to attack Ukraine, the situation on the ground remains tense. India faces a dilemma. The U.S. is its closest strategic partner. It has deep economic and geopolitical ties with European countries. On the other side, Russia is a traditional friend with which India has deep defence ties. So what position should India take? (A Ukrainian service member holds a next generation light anti-tank weapon during drills at Ukraine's International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv, in the Lviv region. Photo Credit: Reuters) When Russia annexed Crimea, which was part of Ukraine, in 2014, India had adopted a nuanced position. It did not support any actor in the conflict, but was cautious not to upset Russian sentiments after the annexation. In a vote in the UN General Assembly that sought to condemn Russia in 2014, India abstained. Later that year, Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the Crimean Republic, visited India as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's delegation, which had triggered an unusual criticism of India by the then Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko. In November 2020, India voted against a Ukraine-sponsored resolution in the UN General Assembly that sought to condemn alleged human rights violations in Crimea. So while India's position is largely rooted in neutrality, New Delhi has adapted itself to the post-2014 status quo on Ukraine, I write in this explainer in The Hindu FAQ. Reaching out to Central Asia Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the first India Central Asia summit virtually on January 27 in which leaders discussed many issues from improving connectivity to the situation in Afghanistan. "Further development of mutual connectivity is essential for enhanced trade and commerce between India and Central Asian countries in the context of their land-locked nature and lack of overland connectivity with India," said the "Delhi Declaration" joint statement issued at the end of the 90-minute-long summit. Regarding Afghanistan, India and the five republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) expressed "same concerns and same objectives" and agreed to setting up a joint working group. The return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan has brought India and the Central Asian countries, some of them sharing borders with Afghanistan, closer. In the 1990s when the Taliban were in power, India had closely cooperated with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, along with Russia and Iran, to help anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan. While it's too early to say which direction the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan would take now, India and Central Asian countries seem to be once again looking at avenues of bolstering their partnership. In this editorial, we argue that "India will need to move nimbly to ensure it stays in step with the changes, and to make certain the future of ties more closely resembles the deep ties of the distant past." But India is not the only country that's interested in Central Asia. Russia is the most important strategic partner in the region. In recent years, China has emerged the biggest investor in infrastructure and development projects in the region. Just days before the India-Central Asia summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a virtual summit of all Central Asian countries in which $500 million in assistance to the region and pledged to ramp up trade. Mr. Xi promised to take steps to increase the trade between the two sides to $70 billion by 2030" from $40 billion in 2018, roughly 20 times India's trade with the region that year. The Pegasus row Pegasus, the Israeli spyware manufactured by the NSO Group returned to haunt the BJP-led union government with a New York Times investigation claiming that India purchased the software in July 2017 in order to carry out targeted surveillance on citizens. Incidentally, the fresh allegations came at a time when India and Israel marked 30 years of their establishing full diplomatic relations. While Indian and Israeli leaders have hailed the bilateral ties, none has responded to the fresh allegations. To understand how Pegasus operates, see this detailed explainer in Text and Context by George P.J.. To go deeper into the NSO Group, see this profile we published last year, "The spy who came in for the phone". The Top Five What we are reading this week - the best of The Hindu's Opinion and Analysis Pakistan Hindu Council | A voice of minority rights A proposal from the Pakistan Hindu Council, which works for minority rights in an increasingly Islamic Pakistani, to fly pilgrims from both sides has seen positive response from India and Pakistan. Suhasini Haidar writes about the group in The Hindu Profiles. How is U.S. tackling discrimination on campuses? The California Faculty Association (CFA) this month added caste criteria into its anti-discrimination policies, a move that was subsequently ratified by the Board of Trustees of the California State University system. In The Hindu FAQ, Narayan Lakshman explains what is the new policy to shield against caste bias? Paul-Henri Damiba | The colonel who seized power Seven weeks ago, Burkina Faso's President Roch Christian Kabore appointed a little-known Lieutenant Colonel as the commander of the country's capital, Ouagadougou. Last week, the Colonel staged a coup deposing Mr. Kabore and taking power in his hands. Stanly Johny profiles Lf. Col. Paul Henri Damiba, the coup leader, in The Hindu Profiles. The importance of the Nord Stream pipeline As Russia-U.S. tensions are running high over Ukraine, two pipelines across the Baltic Sea have gained more strategic focus. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines can take Russian gas directly to Germany. German officials have said that they would reconsider giving regulatory approval to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. In this explainer in Text and Context, Uma Purushothaman writes about the pipelines and their strategic importance. Amid chill in relations, new PLA history returns spotlight to 1962 war The downturn in ties has coincided with greater interest in China in the 1962 war, which hasn't been covered as extensively in the media as Korean War or war with Japan, writes Ananth Krishnan. Neighbourhood Watch Sri Lanka's worsening economic crisis is tightening its grip on the country's hinterlands. Its fast-depleting foreign reserves — $3.1 billion at the end of 2021 — have pushed the Rajapaksa administration into a corner. The government needs dollars to import basic food items, fuel, and medicines, which have frequently been in shortage in recent months. As has milk powder, which Sri Lanka mostly imports and widely consumes in place of fresh milk. Scores of consumers are struggling to afford essentials such as rice, pulses, vegetables, fish, and meat whose prices are soaring, amid import restrictions, Meera Srinivasan reports from Colombo. Two years on after thousands of Indian medical students saw their education in China abruptly put on hold amid the COVID-19 outbreak, students are still in the dark about when they can return and are growing increasingly desperate about their future, Ananth Krishnan reports from Hong Kong. Universities say they have been given no timetable from the Chinese authorities on when they can issue letters needed for visa applications for students. Thank you for reading! For more news and analyses, visit www.thehindu.com

The View From India

31 JANUARY 2022

Understand foreign affairs from the Indian perspective! This week, the newsletter is written and curated by Stanly Johny, The Hindu's International Affairs Editor.

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India and the Ukraine crisis

(A Ukrainian service member holds a next generation light anti-tank weapon during drills at Ukraine's International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv, in the Lviv region. Photo Credit: Reuters)

When Russia annexed Crimea, which was part of Ukraine, in 2014, India had adopted a nuanced position. It did not support any actor in the conflict, but was cautious not to upset Russian sentiments after the annexation. In a vote in the UN General Assembly that sought to condemn Russia in 2014, India abstained. Later that year, Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the Crimean Republic, visited India as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's delegation, which had triggered an unusual criticism of India by the then Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko. In November 2020, India voted against a Ukraine-sponsored resolution in the UN General Assembly that sought to condemn alleged human rights violations in Crimea. So while India's position is largely rooted in neutrality, New Delhi has adapted itself to the post-2014 status quo on Ukraine, I write in this explainer in The Hindu FAQ.

Reaching out to Central Asia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the first India Central Asia summit virtually on January 27 in which leaders discussed many issues from improving connectivity to the situation in Afghanistan. "Further development of mutual connectivity is essential for enhanced trade and commerce between India and Central Asian countries in the context of their land-locked nature and lack of overland connectivity with India," said the "Delhi Declaration" joint statement issued at the end of the 90-minute-long summit. Regarding Afghanistan, India and the five republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) expressed "same concerns and same objectives" and agreed to setting up a joint working group. The return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan has brought India and the Central Asian countries, some of them sharing borders with Afghanistan, closer. In the 1990s when the Taliban were in power, India had closely cooperated with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, along with Russia and Iran, to help anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan. While it's too early to say which direction the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan would take now, India and Central Asian countries seem to be once again looking at avenues of bolstering their partnership. In this editorial, we argue that "India will need to move nimbly to ensure it stays in step with the changes, and to make certain the future of ties more closely resembles the deep ties of the distant past."

But India is not the only country that's interested in Central Asia. Russia is the most important strategic partner in the region. In recent years, China has emerged the biggest investor in infrastructure and development projects in the region. Just days before the India-Central Asia summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a virtual summit of all Central Asian countries in which $500 million in assistance to the region and pledged to ramp up trade. Mr. Xi promised to take steps to increase the trade between the two sides to $70 billion by 2030" from $40 billion in 2018, roughly 20 times India's trade with the region that year.

The Pegasus row

Pegasus, the Israeli spyware manufactured by the NSO Group returned to haunt the BJP-led union government with a New York Times investigation claiming that India purchased the software in July 2017 in order to carry out targeted surveillance on citizens. Incidentally, the fresh allegations came at a time when India and Israel marked 30 years of their establishing full diplomatic relations. While Indian and Israeli leaders have hailed the bilateral ties, none has responded to the fresh allegations. To understand how Pegasus operates, see this detailed explainer in Text and Context by George P.J.. To go deeper into the NSO Group, see this profile we published last year, "The spy who came in for the phone".

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The Top Five

What we are reading this week - the best of The Hindu's Opinion and Analysis

Pakistan Hindu Council | A voice of minority rights

A proposal from the Pakistan Hindu Council, which works for minority rights in an increasingly Islamic Pakistani, to fly pilgrims from both sides has seen positive response from India and Pakistan. Suhasini Haidar writes about the group in The Hindu Profiles.
How is U.S. tackling discrimination on campuses?

The California Faculty Association (CFA) this month added caste criteria into its anti-discrimination policies, a move that was subsequently ratified by the Board of Trustees of the California State University system. In The Hindu FAQ, Narayan Lakshman explains what is the new policy to shield against caste bias?
Paul-Henri Damiba | The colonel who seized power

Seven weeks ago, Burkina Faso's President Roch Christian Kabore appointed a little-known Lieutenant Colonel as the commander of the country's capital, Ouagadougou. Last week, the Colonel staged a coup deposing Mr. Kabore and taking power in his hands. Stanly Johny profiles Lf. Col. Paul Henri Damiba, the coup leader, in The Hindu Profiles.
The importance of the Nord Stream pipeline

As Russia-U.S. tensions are running high over Ukraine, two pipelines across the Baltic Sea have gained more strategic focus. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines can take Russian gas directly to Germany. German officials have said that they would reconsider giving regulatory approval to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. In this explainer in Text and Context, Uma Purushothaman writes about the pipelines and their strategic importance.
Amid chill in relations, new PLA history returns spotlight to 1962 war

The downturn in ties has coincided with greater interest in China in the 1962 war, which hasn't been covered as extensively in the media as Korean War or war with Japan, writes Ananth Krishnan.

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Neighbourhood Watch

Sri Lanka's worsening economic crisis is tightening its grip on the country's hinterlands. Its fast-depleting foreign reserves — $3.1 billion at the end of 2021 — have pushed the Rajapaksa administration into a corner. The government needs dollars to import basic food items, fuel, and medicines, which have frequently been in shortage in recent months. As has milk powder, which Sri Lanka mostly imports and widely consumes in place of fresh milk. Scores of consumers are struggling to afford essentials such as rice, pulses, vegetables, fish, and meat whose prices are soaring, amid import restrictions, Meera Srinivasan reports from Colombo.

Two years on after thousands of Indian medical students saw their education in China abruptly put on hold amid the COVID-19 outbreak, students are still in the dark about when they can return and are growing increasingly desperate about their future, Ananth Krishnan reports from Hong Kong. Universities say they have been given no timetable from the Chinese authorities on when they can issue letters needed for visa applications for students.

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Thank you for reading! For more news and analyses, visit www.thehindu.com