Russia, India, and the Multipolar World

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Foreign Ministry IRR

10.22034/ca.2026.2053497.1862
Abstract
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in the last decade of the twentieth century, the United States emerged as the sole superpower on the global stage. However, Putin-era Russia, while striving to rebuild its strength, adopted a different approach to ensure its presence as a global power, This approach is known as multipolarity and is supported by major or regional powers such as India, China, and Iran. Russia and India have jointly pursued a cooperation program to promote global multipolarity, aiming to reduce Western dominance in global affairs and establish a balance of power that reflects diverse interests. Alongside other emerging economies, they strive to achieve their economic and strategic goals without being sidelined by any dominant power. Russia and India, each for their own reasons, have diverged from the dominant global power of today—the United States—and therefore see the move toward a multipolar world and the diminishing influence of Western-centric norms in international relations as beneficial to their interests. The cooperation between Russia and India is rooted in historical ties and mutual geopolitical interests in countering the influence of the United States and NATO. This article examines the signs of divergence between Russia and the United States, as well as India and the United States, and by enumerating the synergistic factors between these two governments, it explores their cooperation and expectations of a multipolar world.

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