A brief visit by Russian president Vladimir Putin to New Delhi – the second time he’s airborne abroad in two years – occasioned a review of India’s famed ties with Russians since our Independence. The dismemberment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991 spelt the end of the Cold War Era. The impossible happened: bitter rivals, Americans and Russians, have begun being on talking terms. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in which India and several ‘neutral’ nations across continents were part of collapsed like a pack of cards. India, over time, lost the high profile it enjoyed in world forums. While India’s stock went down, China’s stock went up by virtue of its sharply increased economic clout, military strength and resultant bargaining power at the diplomatic level due also to its permanent membership and veto power at the UN Security Council.
In all fairness, the centre-piece of the old USSR, namely Russia, too failed to retain the old clout. The strength, however, of Russia is the impactful leadership that Putin gives it through his uninterrupted leadership for two decades. He’s rough, tough and minding his business with rare grit and determination. Compared to Russia, however, the advantage for China is its huge human resources, the largest for any nation, which is being put to productive use– unlike India. Russia, with strong oil reserves, makes huge money from its continued expertise in military technologies and weapons systems. India and several other nations continue to rely on Russia largely for their military needs. Our dependence on Russian-made submarines and of the missile defence systems — the supply of S-400 systems is well-documented. India has a long-standing military cooperation pact with Russia, which in a new form has been extended by 10 more years now. Notably, it was a military pact for mutual support, signed during the time of Indira Gandhi, that helped India confidently move its military to East Pakistan at the height of the Mukti Bahini movement there, leading to the formation of Bangladesh in 1971.
While diplomatic, trade, technology and other cooperation between India and Russia continued during Putin’s terms as prime minister or president there since 1999, the intensity of the old warmth between the two countries was missing. India, on its part, edged closer to the US in the post-Cold War period, but there have not been substantial gains from America to this country. The US threats of sanctions in the matter of acquisition of key missile defence systems from Russia have rightly and boldly been ignored by India now.
