Apart from President Xi Jinping and President Pranab Mukherjee, prominent leaders attending Russia’s Victory Day celebrations included Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev and Egyptian President Abdel Fateh Al- Sisi.
The commemoration event has also seen the emergence of the RIC (Russia-India-China) bloc at a time the West has not only shunned President Putin’s grand parade, but imposed major financial sanctions on Russia. These have led to a significant weakening of the Russian Rouble, and restrictions on banks and oil companies have crippled Russia’s key export industries. At this time, the presence of Chinese and Indian Presidents has been appreciated in Russia as a strong signal of solidarity.
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President Mukherjee’s meeting came a day after Mr. Xi met Mr. Putin and finalised infrastructure deals worth an approximate $6 billion. Russia and China signed 32 agreements and MoUs including high-speed rail projects and the construction of a pipeline for Russian gas major Gazprom. The visit also comes four days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s big visit to China, where the two sides are expected to announce several trade and infrastructure measures. However Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said India’s presence in Moscow should not be read in a trilateral context.
“We are here because this is a very important day for Russians. Anybody objective would recognise the Russian contribution to the end of the war, and we want to say we are here on a day that means a lot to them.”
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