Together with China and Japan, India is one of the three leading Asian powers, whose mutual relations will increasingly determine the situation in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole. In turn, this latter is today in the focus of the current stage of the Great World Game. And if we can speak more or less definitely about the positioning of the first two countries at the table on which the global action is unfolding today, then India’s position at this table still looks “transitional”. What are the initial and the end points of this “transition” and how far has it progressed? It is quite easy to answer the first part of this question…

The special military operation in Ukraine has served as a watershed moment in the evolution of new international relations. The West, led by the United States, was able to rally behind the imposition of unprecedentedly broad sanctions against Russia. At the same time, our adversaries applied immense strain on emerging economies, coercing them to align with their efforts against Russia. However, the global power balance has shifted. The countries of the so-called “Global South” wish to live and act freely and autonomously, defending their own interests. Washington’s diktat is becoming increasingly bothersome, which is not surprising given that emerging countries want to establish their lives according to their own norms, with no outside guidance…