The international crisis following the downing of a Russian Su-24 by the NATO-ally Turkey has claimed its first victim in India’s diplomatic calendar.
Russian sources informed The Hindu that in view of the escalating battle of nerves between Russia and the NATO, Kremlin has cancelled Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin’s planned visit to Delhi. The visit was expected to focus on routine bilateral affairs, defence cooperation, and was meant to assess preparations on the ground for the Moscow visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year-end.
Apparently, the brewing confrontation with the NATO has disturbed Russia’s priorities for year-end diplomacy.
Mr. Rogozin has been tweeting since the confrontation began between Turkey and Russia on November 24. In one of his tweets, he seemed to refer to the Cold War-era hostility between the NATO and Russia saying “the leopard cannot change its spots.”
Earlier, Ambassador Alexander Grushko, Russia’s Permanent Representative at NATO, tweeted that NATO “could not find words of condolence” for the death of the Russian pilot who ejected safely from the burning aircraft, but was shot while landing with the help of a parachute.
Attack not condemnedMr. Grushko pointed out that the statement of the Secretary-General of NATO had “no hint of condemnation of the Turkish attack on our plane.”
Mr. Rogozin who struck a working relation with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, was one of the first Russian officials to have engaged the Narendra Modi government. His importance in Kremlin can be assessed from the fact that he served as Russia’s Ambassador to NATO between 2008 and 2011 and is the current the deputy head of the Military-Industrial Commission of Russia.
Russian sources, however, said that the cancellation will not affect the preparation for the visit of Prime Minister Modi, as according to protocol requirement, Ms. Swaraj has already been to Russia to lay the groundwork for the visit.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had travelled to Russia in October to scale up India-Russia defence ties.
Indian sources pointed out that Mr. Rogozin’s visit was cancelled before it was announced by the Russians, therefore it was not a setback.
Prof. Anuradha Chenoy of Jawaharlal Nehru University said the cancellation of Mr. Rogozin’s visit will not affect bilateral ties as the visits by Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Parrikar have warmed bilateral ties once again.
“The crisis facing Russia right now is unprecedented and Russia is adopting the necessary steps to deal with threats to its interests in the world,” said Prof Chenoy, explaining that while the NATO is an international security alliance, Russia has no such alliance to bank upon and has to depend on its own strength to deal with the crisis.
