His visits to New Delhi and Ankara can be viewed as an attempt to give an asymmetrical response to the hegemony of the world's only superpower. This is how the world interpreted Mr. Putin's statements in New Delhi about "a dictatorship in global affairs, even if presented in pseudo-democratic words," and the danger of "attempts to overhaul the God-created multifaceted and diverse civilization according to the barrack-like principles of a unipolar world."
In the same spirit, a Russian-Indian declaration called for stepping up tripartite cooperation between Russia, India and China. A tripartite summit will be held next year.
The attempts to create a new power center in South and East Asia may not be new, but the appeal to Turkey, a NATO member, as a potential ally in a new geopolitical situation was certainly unprecedented. Turkey is at a historical crossroads. The issue of talks on its accession to the EU has not been decided, while resistance to full membership is growing within the EU. Meanwhile, anti-American sentiments are growing stronger in Turkey, which is why no Turkish politician (even the most pro-Western) will dare proclaim their pro-American views today. This offers Russia a chance to play on a field that until recently had been closed to it.
In this sense, the dual visit to New Delhi and Ankara can become the successful completion - and this is a modest assessment - of 2004. At the very least, the near exultant (though vaguely worded) joint declarations will drown out the echo of several major foreign policy failures (Ukraine, Abkhazia, the EU, and the CIS).
