Ajay Kamalakaran

Ajay Kamalakaran

Ajay Kamalakaran is a writer with a special interest in Russia and the former Soviet Union. He is the author of three books about Russia and has lived in Sakhalin, Moscow and Khabarovsk. His main areas of interest are history, language, geography and migration. Ajay speaks Russian, French, Italian and a smattering of Indian and European languages.

Recent projects

c-vladivostok Courtesy: Sputnik India
8 February 2024 Gateway House

Reviving the Chennai-Vladivostok Corridor

Tensions in West Asia have disrupted global shipping and revived interest in the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Maritime Corridor. Better freight and passenger connectivity between Southern India and Russia’s Far East will open new areas for bilateral cooperation such as the export of machinery, auto parts and engineering goods from India, and progressively integrate the economies of the two countries.
mappr Courtesy: Mappr
20 April 2023 Gateway House

Uzbekistan balances the geopolitical quartet

India is rapidly increasing its economic engagement with Russia, and other former Soviet countries. This means it must look at old friends in Central Asia with new eyes. Uzbekistan is one of them. India is one of a quartet of geopolitical powers playing to the strategic interests of this nation which sits at the crossroads of South, East, West and Central Asia and Russia.
Members of a pro-Russian association support a decision of the Kharkiv city council to make the Russian language official in the city. From left to right, their placards say: "[City] Councillors! Ensure language equality. Don't forsake your fellow Slavs!" "For half of the population of Ukraine - Russian is a native language!" "Authorities - bring back the Russian [language] schools!" "Russian language [is] not foreign! And we [are] not foreigners!" Courtesy: Gennadiy Makarov/Wikimedia Commons
3 November 2022 Gateway House

The battle for Russian language in Ukraine

Language, nationality, and belonging have always been contentious issues in Ukraine. At least until February 2022, Russian remained the main language of business in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as well as the main lingua in the streets. Now there’s a parallel battle ongoing to eliminate the Russian language from Ukraine.
Russia Central Asia Migrants Courtesy: Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation
8 September 2022 Gateway House

Central Asians are central to Russia’s economy

An estimated 9 million Central Asians reside and work in Russia, and almost every major city in the country is dependent on their labour. It’s a marriage of convenience but beneficial all around. Russia gets modernised infrastructure, while remittances bring in much-needed capital to Central Asia.
Астраханская область главная.jpg Courtesy: LUKOIL
20 July 2022 Gateway House

Astrakhan is India’s gateway to Russia

U.S. sanctions against Russia have made Moscow speed up work on the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) as it is now Russia's gateway to India and India's to Russia and Central Asia via Iran's Chabahar port. The author, who recently visited the Astrakhan and Volgograd regions, a major INSTC logistics node, writes about the Indian connection, and the corridor's progress and challenges.