Russia hints at forming a new G8 with India

Russia has said that it is working on a plan to start a new G8 with India on-board
The flurry of sanctions during Ukraine-Russia crisis forced Russia to come up with the idea of new G8
Infighting, weak countries are some of the challenges which the countries will have to overcome in order to bring it into reality

The main region behind the two battles what historians term as world wars was the prolifertaion of regional lobbies. Apparently, after the second world war, Western countries established an organisation called United Nations. It was expected that by taking every country under a single roof, regionalism would be curbed. The organisation seems to have failed on this front.

Russia’s new G8

Fed up of continued Western sanctions, Russia has announced that it is working on forming a new group (G8). The official declaration was made by State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin of Russia. According to Volodin, Western countries are responsible for this new grouping. Various countries have refused to participate in what Volodin terms as ‘sanctions war’ and hence they are being pushed towards forming a “new Big Eight” group with Russia.

Russia seems to have done its homework about the possibility of the group. Initially, it is planning to hedge its bet on the economic viability of its initiative. For the purpose, it compared purchasing power parity (PPP) of old G8 (from which it was ousted in 2014) with its proposed new G8. PPP tells us how much things would cost if every country on the planet would be using single currency.

In a telegram post, Volodin wrote, “The group of eight countries not participating in the sanctions wars — China, India, Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Iran, Turkey — in terms of GDP at PPP is 24.4 per cent ahead of the old group,”

The reason behind this initiative

Ever since the Ukraine-Russia crisis started to unfold, Putin-led country has been looking for support in the international community. In had already expected a backlash from US and its allies. But, they all cornered Russia with unbelievable vengeance. It was attacked with sanctions after sanctions, hampering bilateral as well as multilateral trade. European countries whose energy needs are met by Russia have also decided to ditch it, though they are doing it in a phased manner. Russian civilians are treated with disdain in whichever country they are living in. Additionally, even China did not come out in full support of Russia, while India remained overtly neutral on the issue.

Meanwhile, Russia increased its economic prospects with India and some other allies. For Russia, India is currently emerging as viable replacement for Western market, which is closing its door for Putin. It is on the back of renewed method of trade and diplomacy between both countries did Russia gained confidence to take India on board. By all accounts, it seems that India and Russia will be at the centre stage of this new group.

Challenges ahead

However, there are challenges as well. The biggest of them is infighting between the countries which Russia has taken on board. It is a well established wisdom that India and China are not on good terms. Similarly, Russia and China have their individual differences as well. India-Turkey and India-Iran relationships have complicated equations as well. Other countries like Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil do not have their spheres of influences and will constantly rely on support of Big 3 (India, Russia and China) of the group.

Geopolitics is complex. There is a thick layer of covertness under any overt move. No one knows what future beholds for this new G8 initiative. But one thing is sure that it is a big challenge to the western hegemony.