India, Aug. 23 -- A fallout of US President Donald Trump's tariff aggression is the deepening of India-Russia ties. Moscow has been a legacy partner for New Delhi since the days of the Soviet Union, of course. Despite India professing non-alignment during the Cold War, it sided with the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s - the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation in August 1971, before the Bangladesh war in December, cemented the relationship - but this cooled off in the 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia rose from its debris, and thereafter. In the last two decades, India pivoted more towards the US, though it never really cut off its relations, especially in defence matters, with Russia. This time, Washington has left New Delhi with no option but to infuse more substance into its ties with Moscow. External affairs minister S Jaishankar's Moscow visit, Russia reiterating its support for New Delhi, and the announcement that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit India later this year suggest that the relationship has come full circle. The difference is the presence of a third party, China, which now has unprecedented influence over Russia, unlike in the heydays of the Soviet Union. China also appears to be capitalising on the strains in India-US ties by hastening the thaw in its relations with India, though concerns remain in New Delhi regarding the situation on the Line of Actual Control and Beijing's policies across the Indo-Pacific. The Chinese envoy in New Delhi has spoken about standing with India in the face of the bullying tactics of the US administration, but such moves appear to be aimed more at shoring up Beijing's position in its rivalry with Washington. The challenge for Moscow and Delhi will be to secure their ties with the ups and downs of their respective relations with Beijing and Washington. At the heart of the present pivot is India's energy purchases from Russia. Jaishankar clarified that Washington had earlier prodded New Delhi to increase purchases to stabilise the crude market when the West imposed sanctions on trade with Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine. He also called out the hypocrisy of the US accusing India of profiteering. Europe has been a key beneficiary of India's refining prowess, which ensured the supply of fuel at reasonable rates. India's trade choices are set by its national interests and not by the US President's whims. It is unfortunate that the US is not just threatening to undo a relationship that had been built with a lot of hard work on both sides, but also to stymie India's legacy relationship with Russia. Washington will be mistaken to think that the loser here is India. Trump's excessive emphasis on bilateralism centred around his short-sighted vision of self-interest has already expanded the space for non-military multilateral blocs such as Brics and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which provide salience to Russia, China, India, Iran, Brazil and South Africa. For India, a challenging part will be to ensure that the Trump administration's fusillade over alleged "war profiteering" does not spill over and impact its ties with the UK and Europe. London and New Delhi have inked a free trade agreement that both sides see as fair, and talks are in progress to ink a trade deal with Brussels. Meanwhile, New Delhi and Moscow should work closely to address impediments in bilateral trade in sectors other than defence and oil, and as suggested, discuss services. A broad-based relationship will and should have the depth to tide over ideological divides, regime changes and the churn in global power relations....