1898, Captain W. Lebedeff Grenadier of the of Russian Army

“We must indeed come into contact with India… We shall compel Great Britain to place a proper value on our friendship and to relinquish her aggressive policy in regard to Russia. The might of India will be sapped, seeing that it will become necessary to increase the armed forces of the Indian Empire; this, in its turn, would increase the taxation under which the native populations now groan, and result in an increasing feeling of discontent. Independently of all this, a connection of the Trans-Caspian Railway with the railway system of India will give us a command of the route which the overland trade between Europe and Asia will pursue; and, finally, Russia will have found a way to emerge on an open sea.”

Source: Abstract and Extracts of translation by Robert Mitchell of ‘To India, A military statistical and strategical sketch. A project of a future campaign.’(e.g. Russian) By Captain W. Lebedeff, Grenadier Guards, St Petersburg, 1898