The view from India newsletter: When Modi goes to Moscow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia from July 8 to 9 where he is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin to have talks on strategic, economic and defence ties between the two countries. To put this in the context, India’s crude imports from Russia was just $2.4 billion in 2021-2022, the fiscal year before the Ukraine war began. In the Moscow summit, “talks are expected to focus on the rise in India-Russia trade due to India’s import of oil, smoothening out payment issues arising from Western sanctions, build on previous conversations on the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime route, and conclude the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement agreement, that will pave the way for more defence exchanges,” writes Suhasini Haidar in this analysis. By choosing Russia as his first foreign destination for a bilateral visit in his third term, Mr. Modi is sending a clear message to India’s partners in the West that New Delhi intends to continue his current balancing act between Russia and the West. explains Shiv Sahay Singh Reasi and the ‘years-old’ issues of cross-border terror: In India’s responses to Pakistan-backed terror, New Delhi needs to sharpen its definition of what is an ‘unacceptable’ terror attack, writes Vivek Katju Mass protests in Kenya, in which at least 30 people were shot and killed by police, against an IMF-backed finance Bill that sought to raise taxes on essentials bring into focus, once again, the conditions the multinational lender imposes on poor countries in return for loan assistance, writes G. Sampath India must avoid ceding the centre stage in its own region on foreign policy and on Tibet issues, writes Suhasini Haidar The far-right AfD leader, Björn Höcke, who stands trial for using Nazi-era slogans, calls for a ‘180-degree turn’ in how Germany remembers its past, including Holocaust, writes Sumeda.