Geopolitics

Indo-Russia Relations at 25...
Star Rating Loader Please wait...
Issue Net Edition | Date : 26 Dec , 2016

In the meanwhile, bilateral talks and defence ties continued to prosper between India and Russia. After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, President Medvedev was the first foreign Head of State to visit India after the Mumbai terrorist attacks. India and Russia strengthened their ties further by inking 10 agreements, including a pact on civil nuclear cooperation and decided to intensify their cooperation in combating terrorism.

It was clear that India was manoeuvring between US and Russia and trying to get the best deal out of the civil-nuclear agreements from both the countries.

The next ‘big moment’ in the relations between the two old time allies came when the two countries signed the civil-nuclear agreement in 2009. Under the agreement Russia was to set up more nuclear reactors in India, transfer the full range of nuclear energy technologies and ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel. It was clear that India was manoeuvring between US and Russia and trying to get the best deal out of the civil-nuclear agreements from both the countries.

The next year i.e. in 2010, Vladimir Putin again visited India, this time as Russia’s Prime Minister. The visit was hailed as the ‘re-setting of the Indo-Russian Partnership’ because the time at which the visit happened was marked by changing geopolitical and geo-economic realities in the international system. The then global order was characterised by the rapidly rising China; the global financial crisis and its impact on the American supremacy; resurgent Russia with its new assertive foreign policy under President Dmitry Medvedev; increasing Sino-Russian partnership; and the emergence of a new strategic partnership between India and the US.

The two countries signed an agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy and establishing a joint venture to manufacture ground-based navigation equipment that will interface with the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System GLONASS. The then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his official statement re-emphasized the importance India gives to Russia when he said “Our relations are not dependent on any other relations, and they grow in importance with every passing day”. The other relation mentioned was India’s growing bonhomie with the US.

In the last four years, the engagements between the two countries have increased as the heads of these two states continue to meet each other both at bilateral and multilateral forums.

Vladimir Putin reciprocated in the same tone in his yet another visit to India in 2012, when writing for one of the India’s most influential newspaper THE HINDU, he said “I would like to stress that deepening of friendship and cooperation with India is among the top priorities of our foreign policy.” Many important bilateral agreements were signed including the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish an Indo-Russia Joint Investment Fund, worth US$ 2 billion.

In the last four years, the engagements between the two countries have increased as the heads of these two states continue to meet each other both at bilateral and multilateral forums. Though, reports of Russia getting closer to Pakistan have been increasing lately. The joint Russia-Pakistan military drills, Russia’s stakes at Gwadar port and Russia’s subtle diplomacy of supporting China-Pakistan economic corridor have increased tension for Indian policy makers. They are unable to assess what Russia today really thinks of India. Russia’s re-emergence as a brute ‘hard power’ in the international system and rising stature of Vladimir Putin as a shrewd realist have been giving India more reasons to worry.

This is because as India used to maneuverer between US and Russia in the last decade, Russia has started using the same tactics by manoeuvring between India and Pakistan recently and with much more affectivity. The reason being that after Osama bin Laden got caught in Pakistan by US, the good old ‘mutual trust’ between these two allies seemed to have gone down drastically. As a result, Pakistan started naturally aligning with Russia to balance US. Though, Russia has shrewdly maintained that it values its relationship with India much more than with Pakistan.

Indo-Russia relations have seen a roller coaster ride in the past twenty five years post Soviet Union. India wants to share the same relationship with Russia as it had with USSR…

In October 2016, India hosted the BRICS Summit at Goa where the leaders of BIMSTEC member countries were invited by India. This joint summit was held in the backdrop of India trying to isolate Pakistan after the Modi government conducted ‘Surgical Strike’ against Pakistan in reply to the Uri terror attack in India. Both Narendra Modi and Putin are staunch critiques of Islamic fundamentalism and therefore it is expected that Modi-Putin relationship will based on a strong and united opposition to all those states who export terrorism to other countries.

Last month, Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections came quite as a shock to many. This will have a major impact on Indo-Russia relations as well because Trump and Putin share this unusual chemistry between them. Maybe, India’s alignment to either US or Russia now will not irk the other party as both parties appear to be on the same boat, though Trump might not prove as absolutist when he actually takes over as president due to checks and balances in US democratic setup. In this context, it would be interesting to see how things unfold in future, how the power equations will change, how close India and Russia will get to each other in the wake of these events.

To conclude, Indo-Russia relations have seen a roller coaster ride in the past twenty five years post Soviet Union. India wants to share the same relationship with Russia as it had with USSR and in fact in areas of military and defense cooperation, India do shares that relationship but now India is trying to be an equal partner in the relationship rather than being the subservient. Russia, on the other hand realizes India’s growing economic and soft power and wants to utilize that in its own favour by continuing the old time friendship with India.

1 2
Rate this Article
Star Rating Loader Please wait...
The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Martand Jha

Junior Research Fellow at Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

More by the same author

Post your Comment

2000characters left

3 thoughts on “Indo-Russia Relations at 25…

  1. There is actually nothing with Russian now. It all over. Its just that we are buying arms from them and they need the payments we make. They couldnt have had their stealth fighter if we didnt pitch in.

  2. With changes of time relation changes. Indo-Russian relation received some impediment since Rafale deal and growing Indo-US relation. But if we see properly, India is still the biggest buyer of Russian defence products . India buys those products from other countries, which Russia cannot supply. However, both countries have soft corner for each other. Psychologically, they are interlocked and interdependent. Both country should review new business and economic prospects from Each other. At the time of Soviet, Indo-Soviet cultural Society was established to have a cultural link between these two nations. Russian Language was taught at Gorky Saran and IRL. Now no such cultural practices are seen there. All these seem to have heightened the distance. But I think this is only temporary. We must find newer and improved relation with Russia.

  3. Indo-Russian relation is time tested,we may have difference on some issues but we still enjoy more similarities than dissimilarities. World is changing so fast that every country is in the race for global superiority, therefore India has to choose between friends which is more trust worthy.

More Comments Loader Loading Comments