Independence on a tightrope: India's foreign policy choice

India has carefully calibrated relations with Russia, but EU's decision to impose price cap on Russian oil will be the next testing point for India in balancing its national and strategic interests

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s praise for India’s independent foreign policy at the Valdai Club conference in Moscow late last week can be viewed as a pragmatic recognition of the realpolitik embedded in New Delhi’s geopolitical calculations. Ever since Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine that started on February 24, India has been forced to weigh the benefits of its strengthening alliance with the United States against the needs embedded in its ties with Russia that date back to the Soviet era. This has demanded an intricate balancing act by New Delhi, principally because India’s defence forces largely rely on Russia