INDIA’S COOPERATION WITH THE EAEU AND THE SCO

The article deals with the interaction between the Republic of India (RI) and the main Eurasian structures that operate in the space of the former Soviet Union – ​the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). With the emergence of a polycentric world order, marked, among other things, by the entry into the international arena of states that used to be categorized as developing, the study of their new role in the political, economic, and military-political spheres is of particular relevance. In this regard, identification of peculiarities of India’s interaction with the SCO and the EAEU is of specific importance in determining the role of India as a large state and an influential player both in the Asian region and in the world. Various aspects of India’s foreign policy activities at the historical and contemporary stages, including relations with Russia, have already received quite detailed coverage in Russian and foreign academic literature. Along with the consideration of individual aspects of India’s cooperation with the SCO, much attention is paid by IR and Oriental Studies researchers to India’s uneasy relations with China and Pakistan. At the same time, the problem of India’s participation in the implementation of Eurasian integration projects within the SCO and, moreover, the EAEU demands more attention. This has determined the aim of this article, which has several objectives: to analyze main historical stages of India’s interaction with Russia and the USSR; to study India’s foreign policy priorities in dealing with the SCO and EAEU; to reveal the influence of India, China, and Pakistan on the SCO activities and interstate relations within this organization; to determine India’s political-strategic, trade, and economic preferences in the Eurasian space. The relations with India, which is turning into new Asian giant, may in the future contribute to the establishment of both the SCO and the EAEU as influential world centers. The Indian participation may help in activating their internal and external potential, which will objectively contribute to a more dynamic formation of a new Greater Eurasia. © 2024, Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.