• Russia has recently called for the revival of the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral format, dormant since the 2020 Galwan clash between India and China.
• This renewed push, spearheaded by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, comes amidst a perceived thaw in India-China relations following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• Russia views the RIC platform as a way to maintain its influence in Asia and counterbalance India's growing alignment with Western powers, particularly through partnerships like the Quad.
• Moscow is concerned about India's deepening ties with the US and other Western nations in defense, technology, and supply chains, seeing RIC as a means to keep India engaged in a non-Western multilateral framework.
• Lavrov directly criticized NATO's attempts to draw India into anti-China strategies, highlighting Russia's awareness of the growing Western interest in the Indo-Pacific region.
• For Russia, reviving RIC serves to balance its Asian partnerships, reduce over-reliance on China, and project itself as an independent power broker in the evolving Eurasian order.
• The revival of RIC presents both opportunities and challenges for India, requiring a delicate balancing act between maintaining its strategic autonomy and engaging with multiple global partnerships while navigating unresolved tensions with China.