Washington, 6 December (H.S.): Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin has credited US President Donald Trump for deepening the strategic partnership between India and Russia, asserting that the 79-year-old American leader “deserves a Nobel Prize” for fostering their united front. His remark followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warmly received state visit to India this week — his first in four years — where Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted him with full ceremonial honours at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Rubin, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told that from Moscow’s viewpoint, the visit marked an “extremely positive” turn, as Putin was accorded respect “he can hardly get anywhere else in the world.”

The meeting resulted in 16 wide-ranging bilateral agreements covering defence, trade, migration, healthcare, and media cooperation during the 23rd India–Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi.While praising Modi’s diplomatic gesture toward Putin, Rubin questioned whether the Biden administration’s recent policies were driven by resentment over Trump’s handling of India. He cited Trump’s imposition of a 50% tariff on Indian imports due to New Delhi’s oil trade with Russia as an example of strained US–India relations.

“The embrace between India and Russia,” Rubin remarked, “is being viewed in two ways. Trump sees it as vindication — an ‘I told you so’ moment — while two-thirds of Americans, who disapprove of his policies, see it as the result of his incompetence and a strategic misstep.”

Rubin also accused Trump of being swayed by Pakistan’s “flattery and possible bribery,” referring to a recent closed-door meeting between Trump and Pakistani leaders Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir. Such actions, Rubin warned, “will saddle America with a strategic deficit for decades.”Turning sharply toward Washington, Rubin condemned what he described as the United States’ “hypocritical stance” on India’s energy dealings with Russia.

“The US still buys materials and nuclear fuel from Russia,” he noted, “so lecturing India is pure hypocrisy. If Washington cannot offer cheaper energy alternatives, it should let India safeguard its own national interests.”Putin echoed similar sentiments in a recent televised interview, highlighting that the US continues to import uranium from Russia.

“If the US can buy nuclear fuel from us, why should India be denied the same right?” the Russian president asked, calling it a matter worth open discussion.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar