Russia as Strategic Partner

” Revolutionary Bhagat Singh was inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution and admired Vladimir Lenin.”

Starting off with background- Maintaining the historically rooted strategic partnership between India and Russia remains one of the priorities of India’s foreign policy. The diplomatic ties between the two nations started even before India attained independence, in 1947. During the cold war era India remained neutral, neither aligned with US nor with USSR and formed NAM along with like minded countries. Though being a part of NAM, most of India’s national and international policies were inclined towards the USSR. In 1971, the Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed between India- Russia. This treaty comprised the mutual goals of the two nations and promoted regional and global peace and security. Also, the cooperation and military assistance of the USSR during 1971 is unforgettable. It could have become relatively difficult for India to liberate Bangladesh without the strong diplomatic support from our long-standing partner USSR.

India too never refrained from helping out the USSR during the crisis. In 1990, India provided loans to the USSR in the form of technical credit. Apart from this we also provided food credit and a gift of 20,000 tons of rice in 1991. After the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, a new treaty, ” Treaty of friendship and cooperation” was signed between the two. And a year later “Military- technical cooperation agreement” was also signed. For the next few years, until there was a steep fall in arms exports , India remained among the leading arms importers of Russia. Almost 41% of the total defence exports of Russia was because of India and China. Defence exports became crucial for the survival of Russia specially after its army lessened arms’ demand after USSR’s dissolution. Multiple factors on which bilateral relations are based.

Defence -Defence cooperation is the key pillar of India Russia relations. Since independence India has procured multiple arms, weapons, equipment, fighter jets, submarines, helicopters, aircraft carriers etc. from Russia. The traditional ties of buyer- seller are changing and focus is given more on joint production and development along with technology sharing. The best examples of which could be Brahmos missile, Project 75-i Submarines.

India’s Defence minister Mr. Rajnath Singh visited Russia on the occasion of 75th Victory Day parade and met several defence ministers there. Additional orders of MIGs and Sukhoi 30 were also made for the Indian Air Force. Russia is also an ideal partner to boost India’s civil nuclear energy. Also the partnership of both the countries in nuclear energy is constantly expanding in scope. India’s nuclear powered Submarine INS Chakra is of Russian origin. Russia is also building a 6000 MW power plant in Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu which is said to have 6 nuclear reactors. This is being constructed under an agreement signed by India with ROSATOM in 2017.

Economic ties- India’s major exports to Russia are chemicals, engineering goods and agricultural products. Major imports from Russia are precious metals, chemical products and minerals. Both the nations are working towards achieving $15 billion trade by 2025. PM Modi in 2019 unveiled India’s ‘Act Far East Policy’ in order to make investments and work on development of Russia’s far east region.

Culture- It’s not at all surprising that many of the Russian generals have grown up watching Indian movies. Yoga has been given high importance in Russia and is becoming more and more popular since the 1980s. Apart from Hindi many other Indian languages are taught in Russian institutions.

Regional and international cooperation- Russia has always supported the membership of India in SCO, and also for permanent membership in UNSC. Both closely cooperate in International organizations namely UN, BRICS, G-20 and in Asia Pacific region such as ASEAN, East Asia Summit. etc.

Reasons for deteriorating relations- Russia preferred the middle position when China raised Jammu and Kashmir issue in UNSC. India’s inclination towards US and the west which could be seen after the changing policies, procurement of arms and ammunitions, military exercises. Even after being an old and trusted diplomatic friend of India, Russia remained neutral on the rising hostility of China towards India. Russia also opposed the Indo- Pacific policies in the Raisina Dialogue. It’s close cooperation with China and China’s influence on Russia could be observed from recent statements of Russia. India’s active participation in international groupings like QUAD isn’t entertained by Russia and causing doubt regarding the ties between the two countries. The recent visit of Russia’s foreign minister Mr. Sergey Lavrov to Pakistan and their talks of economic and military cooperation has also become a questionable issue.

Way forward- Russia is a common thread to resolve the growing tensions between China and India. One of the solutions to resolve this could be the revival of the RIC group.

Actively participating in QUAD and JAI (Japan- America- India) would confine India to remain as a maritime power only, while India is a maritime as well as continental power. To maintain its continental power India will need countries like Russia and Israel. We see that there are multiple factors on which the bilateral relations are based. So, more focus should be given on collaborating with Russia in different areas, such as Russia’s far east has opened new opportunities for collaborating in metals, minerals and forest resources.

Skilled labourers could be another area for collaboration. Maintaining the historic ties is equally relevant for both the nations. Indeed Russia’s inclination towards China has become a matter of concern for India, but the same goes with Russia when it comes to India becoming inclined towards Russia’s all time rival US. There’s no doubt that the US is a profit oriented nation. It works according to it’s vested interests. But not to forget the fact that Russia is the one to share its technologies with India even after the decline in defence imports by India Russia is a time tested partner. Mutually co-operating and continuing with diplomatic talks could resolve the tensions which have arisen between the two.