Moscow: By cementing ties with India, the
Obama administration is trying to get a powerful ally in its
contraposition with China, a leading Russian daily has said.
Commenting on the US President`s endorsement of
India`s bid to get a permanent seat in the UNSC, the daily
Kommersant said, "Obama is Building a System of Anti-Chinese
Defence".
Most of the Russian papers carried stories on Obama`s
announcement of support for India`s candidature, they did not
analyse implications of the visit of the US President on
Moscow.
However, Prof Andrei Volodin, a top expert on the
region wrote that Obama is not keen on imparting military
dimension to its "containing" China policy.
He also wrote that for the sake of `strategic
alliance` with India, Obama is not willing to make a choice
between India and Pakistan as it would jeopardise Washington`s
`AfPak` strategy.
But the Russian media appeared more focused on new
developing defence ties between Washington and New Delhi
commenting that Americans arms majors were bagging big orders
from India.
The media said though the share of US defence sales to
India had gone up, these were mainly on buying weapons and
platforms like heavy lift transport aircraft, missiles and
UAVs, which Russia cannot offer.
But it said the weapons sales from Russia, which
traditionally is India`s biggest suppliers had not dropped,
but were on the upswing.
PTI
