By conducting joint military drills with India in Alaska, which is just 40 kilometres from the Russian island of Big Diomede, the US is trying to play the regional card in Asia, a political scientist has said.
The remarks by Stanislav Tarasov, a Russian strategic affairs expert, came on the first day of the US-India military exercise in Alaska, which began on 25 September in the region.
The drills are scheduled to run until 8 October, as announced by the Indian Ministry of Defence.
The drills are scheduled to run until 8 October, as announced by the Indian Ministry of Defence.
According to a statement, both countries will participate in a series of tactical exercises aimed at "enhancing interoperability in conducting UN peacekeeping operations".
Against this backdrop, Tarasov shared his views about what these military exercises involving the US and Indian Armed Forces mean for Russia, especially in the broader context of New Delhi's growing bonhomie with Washington in recent years.
The geopolitics pundit explained how the US has been making attempts to create divisions within BRICS by luring India into its camp.
US Attempting to Escalate Rift Between India and China
According to Tarasov, the US is conducting exercises to demonstrate that it has the ability to create new coalitions.
He mentioned that this is an element of the US' bloc politics.
"India is a member of BRICS and supports Russia. It’s no secret that in BRICS there is a crack in relations between India and China, the United States wants to bring this situation to a crisis", Tarasov told Sputnik India.
He opined that the regional card in Asia was being played out and the US was trying to separate India and China geopolitically.
Questions Over Effectiveness of Military Exercises
Tarasov pointed out that it is difficult to say how effective these exercises are from a military point of view.
The international relations analyst suggested that this is how the United States is trying to send certain signals. This marks an attempt to split the attempts of both Russia and China to maintain some kind of coalition, first and foremost BRICS.
However, according to the expert, these exercises are currently not capable of “driving a wedge” in relations between Russia and India.
Moscow's Relations With New Delhi to Remain 'Normal'
"Russia and India are on the verge of transitioning to a strategic partnership. India is our very powerful trade and economic partner. It has not joined the sanctions in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. So our relations will stay normal. Russia is reluctant to such signals", Tarasov concluded.