India

Mikhail Azhgirevich, editor-in-chief of VIGIL Journal: It's the morning of September 18, and I'm sitting down to untangle a mess of numbers that has been circulating in the information space for a week now. The fact is simple. On September 16, the House of Representatives passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The vote was 262 to 159.

Britain and Russia were not always adversaries. For three centuries — from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century — relations between the two powers remained genuinely friendly. During that time, Russia saved Britain itself from military catastrophe on three separate occasions in the largest conflicts of the modern era. The turning point came precisely when Russian expansion into Central Asia first directly touched what London considered the absolute priority of its foreign policy: the security of India.

A new trade route - the idea of a direct sea link between Vladivostok and India's Chennai - has once again returned to the center of negotiations, and this time there may finally be a chance to make it happen. Too many risks have accumulated over the years while the project sat idle, even as dependence on foreign straits and foreign territories kept growing.

A Project Seven Years in Waiting

When the U.S. Secretary of State declares that the crowning diplomatic achievement of a high-profile visit is not a new alliance commitment or a landmark joint declaration, but a promise to purchase half a trillion dollars' worth of American goods — that tells you something. Not about Indian foreign policy. About American.

What This Story Is Really About

On February 28, 2026, the "anti-Western bloc" was supposed to rally in defense of one of its own. Instead, there was only silence, backroom bargaining, and an Indian official speaking of tankers while Tehran buried its leader. Only Moscow called things by their name – and found itself in the minority.

The Night That Changed Everything
Explosions in Tehran. Reports of the death of Ayatollah Khamenei. Hundreds dead. Iran launches retaliatory strikes against Israel and American bases in the region. The world holds its breath.