Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments about the US-led Western military bloc NATO's attempts to create new military-politico blocs in Asia are "astute and fair", two Indian strategic affairs pundits have said.
The remarks of military veteran Major Manik M Jolly (Retd) and Dattesh D. Prabhu-Parulekar, an academic at the School of International & Area Studies at Goa University, came hours after Putin highlighted that NATO was shifting its activities in Asia that go beyond the scope of its goals.
"We see attempts by the West to shift NATO's activities towards Asia, which clearly go beyond the scope of the statutory goals of this organization — the North Atlantic bloc. It is called the North Atlantic bloc, what should it do in Asia? No, they are heading to Asia. They provoke there, heat up the situation, create new military-political blocs with different compositions," Putin told a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
NATO Trying to Assert Itself Outside Europe
For the uninitiated, NATO's prime task was to protect European countries from a military attack by the alliance's adversaries and that's why, its growing interest towards Asia could lead to a crisis-like situation in the continent, much like in the Middle East.
For instance, the Israel-Palestine issue remains unresolved to date due to America's backing of the Jewish state, which has shown no interest in a two-state solution for over seven decades.
Similarly, in Central Asia, Afghanistan is a classic case of America's failed intervention.
Against this backdrop, Major Jolly told Sputnik India that Putin was right in assessing NATO's expansionist agenda in Asia.
US-Led Region Reordering Influence Peddling
"The astute and fair observation by Putin isn't a random outburst. Rather it's a brilliant summary of NATO's efforts to carve up Asia and control the region. Whether it's by military presence, alliance, arms trade, commerce, or political support, NATO's presence in subtle and aggressive forms is evident in all groups and sun groups within Asia. One cannot blame them for wanting to extend their influence for vested interests, but that does not mean it shouldn't be called out and opposed either," the ex-Indian Army officer underlined.
On the other hand, Goa University Professor Prabhu-Parulekar was of the view that NATO's focus on Asia was nothing but a sinister design to hurt Russia's relations with both China and India.
White House Trying to Vitiate Moscow's Affinities With India
In his view, Putin's decry of apparent expansionist attempts by NATO, deep into the Asian expanse of the Indo-Pacific, are to be comprehended in the context of progressive US-led region reordering influence peddling, through potential augmentation of the Five Eyes constituents, the deepening of militaristic strategic engagement framework with NATO regional Partners viz., Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand, not to mention NATO's recent initiation of a dialogue with New Delhi.
"This reinforces Moscow's long-held view that such ingress, which goes beyond the plausibility of actions in Afghanistan all these years, are nothing but sinister designs to contain the strongly emerging Russia-China axis and to vitiate Moscow's affinities with India, besides, to disturb the strategic equilibrium," he stressed in a conversation with Sputnik India.
"It's this convictioned belief, that leads Russia to stoutly espouse a refusal to accept the construct of the 'Indo-Pacific' and to view the 'Quad' constellation, as nothing but a containment-steeped clique," Prabhu-Parulekar summed up.