Abstract
India has had long-standing interests in the Central Asian region. Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a Eurasian Union and the recent announcement of the creation of a Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) raises some important questions for this. What impact will the EEU have on Indian ambitions? We argue that all three Indian initiatives to ‘connect’ to Central Asia—the International North South Corridor, the IPI, and TAPI—now either have Russian support or involvement and do not pose a threat to Russia’s interest in maintaining its status as ‘first among equals’ in Central Asia. Further, if the proposed EEU gains traction it will enhance Russian influence over the states of Central Asia, which could in turn enhance Indian interests by facilitating greater access to trade and energy resources, blunting future Chinese expansion and providing a barrier to any expansion of Pakistani influence in the region.
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