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Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 1:11
Russia-Ukraine war | In conversation with Maj Gen Harsha Kakar
On 24th February, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a war on Ukraine, plunging Europe into the worst crisis since the end of World War II. Since then, Russian forces have extensively targeted military and civilian installations throughout Ukraine with frequent missile and rocket launches. As of today, the Russian forces appear close to capturing Ukraine's capital city, Kiev. To discuss more about the crisis and its potential implications for India and the world, I am joined by retired Major Gen. Harsha Kakar
Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 0:05
Yes, sir. I can hear you very well. You can continue answering the question
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Now coming down to your question, the first part is Russia was concerned about the growing power of NATO which is coming very close to its borders. It had been discussing this but nothing seemed to be moving. The second aspect which was of concern was basically the fact that since 2014 it's been under sanctions for having taken over Crimea. Now for Russia, Ukraine is a very important nation. It's bank on its borders
Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 0:46
So you talked of Russia's intentions for this war, which is to like have a promosco regime in Ukraine and to demilitarize Ukraine, which is something Putin had said while launching the war are. So how realistic do you think this goal is with Russia be able to achieve it? Because if you look at the military comparison between Russia and Ukraine, Russia is obviously the greater power here. But Ukraine has also been supplied weapons by Western countries, especially by the United States and the United Kingdom
You see, as far as Ukraine is concerned, militarily, it is way below Russia. You may get weapons, but you've got to realize that weapons coming in takes a long time to be added onto your war plans, into your strategic plans and into your tactical groupings. The issue that is coming in is militarily. If you look at the firepower available with the Russians, it's overwhelming
Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 1:10
I think yesterday even Ukrainian President Zelensky had sort of offered peace talks to Russia and had expressed his willingness to negotiate an outcome to stop this war. So I think it really highlights the point which you have made about deficiencies of Ukrainian military. Having said that, let's look at this issue from a bit of a broader and strategic perspective. What we were seeing over the last few weeks was that the Biden administration in the United States and the European leaders, they all were fearful of this invasion
A few thousand troops in Ukraine and Putin would have been pushed back because it would have implied challenging the US and Europe, all of which are nuclear powers, all of which are militarily strong and the possibility of his pushing what he wanted to not happening. Ukraine knew war was coming. Ukraine did not do much. It kept saying that there will be no war almost till the time when Putin went in. But by then it was too late. These people let the opportunity go
Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 1:18
And on the other hand, we have the Western world, which is very necessary partner for us to counter China. So how do you see the impact of this war on India's foreign policy and India's strategic options? Another question to this, do you agree with the government's decision to take a neutral stand on this issue by not openly criticized Sizing Russia, but also not openly supporting Russia
Firstly, the government has to take a neutral path. It has multiple reasons for doing so. As you yourself said, traditional allies, that is one. The second part of the more logical reason is on account of defense deals. As Harish Schrinkler, the Indian foreign Secretary has stated about a few months ago that without Russian spares our planes won't fly, our ships won't sail. This dependency is solid, including for the BrahMos missile, the sale of which is now being negotiated with the Philippines
Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 0:42
It's fascinating how in today's world, a war which is happening thousands of kilometers away from our own territory can have such a big impact on the different supplies in our own country. Moving on to China, the Western either imposed a large number of sanctions on Russia, on the Shin Banks, on Russian ministers, even on President Putin himself. And it sort of appears that these sanctions will pull Russia even more closer towards China in terms finance, in terms of trade
There is a lot of competition between the two, mainly in Central Asia, where Russia dominates and provides security through the CSTO, which you saw during the Kazakhstan riots towards the end of last year. China has made major inroads there through the Belt Road initiative, and it also seeks to replace Russia in the security domain, which Russia would not permit. So there is a lot of tension on that issue
Bhomik Mathur
@Bmat · 0:49
And now with this, I'm opening the floor for audience questions. So guys, if you have any questions for Major General Cocker with regards to the Ukraine Russia war or with regards to the defense sector as in particular, you can just post your questions below
Gaurav Chauhan
@Gaurav1106 · 2:12
However, they were, of course, when Afghanistan were taken over by Taliban. We kind of understood how the geopolitics of the world is working and what is the next. So which comes to my question also, sir, and I would like to understand from you a couple of things. First, does this mean that Taiwan is next? Because I have been studying a couple of articles, and it just everything points in that direction
Gaurav Chauhan
@Gaurav1106 · 2:39
So I think from that angle India can never take Russia's side. But is Russia someone who can be trusted? And again, US I think never really has side. It just sees what is more important for them. So I just want to understand from your side, where do you think US will be playing its part and how would they put anything to Ukraine support, whether it's going to be boots on the ground or is it only going to be strategic helps or probably help with ammunition?
Geetanjali Kanate
@Grace_126 · 0:25
Thank you so much, sir, for this conversation. I had just found out, is India taking any steps in regarding their dependence on Russia for the equipment? Like do they have any other plans to reduce that dependence? A little or is there no such action going to be taken taking place
Hello guys. This is Adithya from camouladu. Yeah, we have seen a lot of news between Ukraine and Russia. My question is what do you think about the imbalance of AZ recent visit to Russia? I just have this question I just wanted to ask here, shall I be different
We will not otherwise be operating anywhere to support anyone unless the UN is directly involved. But yes, we will remain the main competitor as far as China is concerned, both in Southeast Asia, which is where the main competition is running. As far as the Indian Ocean region, ours is concerned. You've got to realize that it is our home ground. Our bases are strong. We close by for Chinese Navy to operate here. It's about 3000 km
Two, three of our frigates which are under construction in Russia have been stalled because the gas turbine engines from Ukraine are not being sent. Secondly, the gas turbine engines in service, these are being serviced in Vishaka Patnam, but the spare still comes from Ukraine so that is going to be impacted. Secondly, as far as India is concerned, we take the fleet of ours, which comprises of about 100 aircraft are currently being upgraded by Ukraine. So this will also undergo an impact
I've already answered the question earlier. So if you could look at it, you'll get the answer here. Thank you
Sudha Varadarajan
@sudha · 2:26
Because Russia is now completely dependent on China to get out of its economic quadmire, given that there is a United West that has fully set it back for at least a decade, if not more so, it is now completely beholden to China. I think Russia doesn't realize how much beholden now they've become to China in trying to get themselves out of this economic mess that they've gotten themselves into. So there is no way Russia is going to help us in an Indochina conflict