The strategic partnership between India and Russia rests on five key pillars: politics, defense, civil nuclear energy, counter-terrorism cooperation, and space exploration.
Moscow’s objective regarding India is to leverage a reliable foothold to secure and cement New Delhi’s neutral stance in global bodies like the UN, particularly in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Unlike operations targeting Europe—which aim to polarize and fracture the democratic alliance—Russian information operations in India seek to reinforce existing neutrality by legitimizing an anti-Western stance and highlighting historical ties.
Russian propaganda narratives resonate strongly within Indian society due to shared historical and ideological currents. A key export of Russian propaganda is the notion of an incompatibility between Russian and Western values. The Russian Federation positions itself as a defender of "traditional" religious and social values in opposition to the liberal West, asserting that Western globalism is a "modern form of colonialism." This ideological framework aligns perfectly with India’s domestic political climate.
Read more about the structure of Russian information operations in India in the analysis below by Yanina Chaikivska, an associate expert at the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI."