632
Yogesh Gupta
Former Ambassador
The visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to India soon after his remark that “India is currently an object of the western countries’ persistent, aggressive and devious policy to engage it in anti-China games” was of considerable interest as it alluded to an assessment on Moscow’s part that despite some differences, its relationship with New Delhi was too important and needed further nurturing.
India, on its part, sent signals through the visits of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who attended the 75th World War II Victory Day parade on June 24, 2020, in Moscow; External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, who attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Russia-India-China (RIC) Grouping meetings in September 2020; and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla in February 2021, conveying that it was keen to continue its ‘time-tested relationship’ with Russia despite the warming of its ties with the US.
Lithuania’s defense minister: Mission accomplished? Not yet. By: Arvydas Anusauskas “One for the books.” That is how I would describe 2020. With all its trials and tribulations, last year was particularly instructive for the security and defense community. We were starkly reminded of two laws in threat management. First, threats are quick to emerge and they rarely give notice. Second, our job is to deal with them just as quickly, and we can only do that with proper readiness and capabilities. These fundamentals are true for any kind of threats military included and are especially pertinent to deterrence and defense efforts in the Baltic region.