SCO defense ministers in India find reasons for cooperation and criticism

On April 28, 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke at a meeting of the heads of the military departments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries in India, and also held separate talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu. It is reported by RIA Novosti.

At the general meeting, Shoigu accused the United States of trying to restore its military influence in the countries of Central Asia “under the pretext of helping to fight terrorism” (the SCO includes four states from this region – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan).

“We regard requests to the countries of the region to deploy military infrastructure as a direct threat to stability in the SCO space,” Shoigu said. At the same time, according to Moscow, the threat to the security of the countries of the region from extremist groups such as ISIS (the organization has been recognized as a terrorist organization and is banned in Russia) has really increased lately.

“For our part, we are increasing the combat readiness of Russian military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as other response forces to possible challenges,” Shoigu said. Tajikistan hosts the largest Russian military facility abroad, the 201st military base (in Dushanbe and Bokhtar), and Kyrgyzstan hosts the Kant base in the Chui region.

In addition, Shoigu said that “Washington and its accomplices are implementing a strategic plan to provoke other countries into a military confrontation with Russia and China.” Shoigu considers the conflict in Ukraine to be a striking example of such a policy, where, from his point of view, the real goals of the West are to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, create a threat to China and maintain its monopoly position in the world. According to him, the military potential and capabilities of almost all NATO countries were used for this. Shoigu drew special attention to the creation by the United States of an anti-Chinese front in the Asia-Pacific region, including through the aggravation of the Taiwan issue.

On the sidelines of the summit, the defense ministers held several landmark meetings. Shoigu had an unscheduled conversation with Chinese Minister Li Shangfu, who paid a visit to Russia from April 16 to 18, where he also met with President Vladimir Putin. Now Lee invited Shoigu to China, to which he agreed.

At a meeting with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, the Russian minister assured that all projects in the field of military-technical cooperation between the countries are being implemented, and the course towards deepening cooperation between the two countries remains unchanged. The Indian counterpart agreed that the talks “went excellently,” TASS reports. He noted that the meeting also discussed the expansion of the participation of the Russian defense industry in the national program “Make in India”.

The day before, April 27, bilateral talks were also held by Ministers Lee and Singh. Tensions remain between the two countries due to the unresolved territorial dispute in the Himalayas, while, according to the Chinese minister, the situation on the conditional border is now calm. Beijing proposed strengthening mutual trust between the armed forces of the two countries and intensifying dialogue on resolving the border issue. But the Indian minister said any progress could be made here only after China took steps to de-escalate in East Ladakh on the Line of Actual Control, with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) keeping two divisions close to it.

At the general meeting, Minister Singh could covertly criticize another SCO country with which India has difficult relations – Pakistan. At least the Japanese edition of Nikkei believes that his call to “resolutely fight against terrorism in all its forms” can be considered such a hint (previously, New Delhi has repeatedly stated that Islamabad sponsors terrorism in Kashmir).

Speaking about threats in Central Asia, Shoigu most likely had in mind not country-wide, but regional risks, says Stanislav Pritchin, senior researcher at the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at the IMEMO RAS. For example, literally on the day of the summit of SCO defense ministers, an incident occurred on the Tajik-Afghan border with a dead border guard, he adds.

The Taliban (an organization designated as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia) have a very specific policy towards Islamist groups like ISIS, they feel very at ease in northern Afghanistan, despite their difficult relationship with the ruling movement. Thus, now the main risks for destabilizing Central Asia are terrorist ones, and besides, we must not forget that Washington used this factor as a tool for its own purposes in the past, says Pritchin. In his opinion, this is the reason for the high alert regime announced by Shoigu at Russian military bases in the region.

India is pleased to chair the SCO and hopes for effective results, says Gleb Makarevich, an employee of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at IMEMO RAS. Its relations with China really remain difficult, and so far it has not been possible to find a way out of the territorial problem. At the same time, the expert notes the paradox that it is the negotiations at the highest level between the parties that have been very difficult lately, in contrast to the active dialogue “on the ground”.

Russia, on the other hand, according to the expert, in order to gain a foothold in the Indian market, it is worth globally establishing a model of military-technical cooperation with this country, which will include, for example, the creation of joint ventures.