Indian-Russian Ally: How important it is!

It’s not often that you get Russian President Vladimir Putin to sing a little ditty. Yet he did when asked about the state of the Russian-Indian relationship.

During the Cold War, Indian leaders labelled this “nonalignment.”  They now refer to it as “strategic autonomy.”

 

 

The India-Russia connection is the only bilateral relationship that is referred to as friendship. For more than five decades, people from both countries have had warm feelings towards each other, and although the fervour of the 1970s and 1980s has faded somewhat, there still remains the recognition of each other as reliable partners.

It is for this reason that Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in December 2014, during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India: “Even a child in India, if asked to say who is India’s best friend, will reply it is Russia because Russia has been with India in times of crisis.”

In practice, India wanted good relations with both the Soviet Union and the United States. However, India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had a romantic notion about the Soviet Union and a soft spot for Fabian Socialism. This, combined with Pakistan becoming a U.S. partner, led to closer India-Soviet relations.

Soviet assistance in economic and military areas over the years only cemented India’s belief that the Soviets were a steadfast ally. Instead of looking at Soviet and later Russian arms sales as a way for Moscow to hold on to a captive market (India), Indians have often viewed Russian actions with deep sentimentality. The Soviet decision to veto any U.N. resolutions on Kashmir, for example, was viewed in New Delhi as a symbol of Soviet embrace, rather than strategic calculation.

India may no longer be nonaligned, but the desire to balance its relationships is still strong.

Even though India has now moved closer to Western countries, it still wants to make sure that China, and particularly Russia, do not see it as an enemy or threat.

 

 

Indians and Russians are lively and emotional people – mainly at the personal level. Amid strangers and colleague,s they are reserved and hierarchical. Family life is a very important aspect of life in both countries. On both the micro and macro levels, the affinity between Russia and India can be attributed to ancient connections.

The similarity between Sanskrit and Russian are too uncanny to be ignored. For instance, take the most famous Russian word – vodka. It has its origins in the Classical Sanskrit word for water – ‘udaka.’

Since Sanskrit is the oldest language in the world, it is likely Russian is the result of ancient Indians taking their language and culture from the banks of the Saraswati river to the Urals. The discovery of Shiva statues in Central Asia and Russia points to the spread of ancient Vedic culture far beyond the Indian heartland.

Indians – being part of the Indo-European genetic pool – are among the most European of Asians. Russians are the Easternmost Europeans and Leo Tolstoy refers to his country as the “great Asiatic nation”. Basically, the Indian and Russian DNAs overlap and that’s where the similarities and affinities spring from.

Russia and India have transacted military sales for decades. While the West has slapped sanctions on India, Moscow continues to be a reliable supplier of high-end weapons and a source of cutting-edge missile technology.

Russian technology and specialists have helped India leapfrog a couple of generations and produce best-in-class missiles such as BrahMos and Akash. The Prithvi is also based on Russian technology.

While most countries export stripped down versions of their latest weapons, Russia has made an exception for India, with the Sukhoi Su-30MKI jet fighter, which is more advanced than its own Su-27s. The S-400 missile defence system is the latest in a long line of potent weapons that Russia has offered India.

 

In 1979 when Russia invaded Afghanistan, India refused to criticise Moscow. There was a lot of heartburn in the West because of this. Indians were described as hypocritical for being a champion of freedom but looking away when the bear attacked a South Asian country.

But India was simply paying back Russia for its support during the 1971 War when the US, UK, France, Jordan, UAE, Turkey, Indonesia, China and several other western and Muslim countries backed Pakistan. It was a war which was forced upon India after the Pakistanis murdered 3 million of their own Bengali citizens.

While the western democracies supported Islamabad, Russia vetoed US-sponsored resolutions that blamed India. Further, military intervention by Russia’s Pacific Fleet prevented a joint US-British attack on Indian cities.

India’s membership in BRICS (the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the G-20 and the G-77 are also reflective of its desire for participation in organizations not dominated by the West. Cooperation with Russia, which is now at odds with Europe and the United States over Ukraine and Syria, helps cement that standing.

Russia, like the Soviet Union, has always looked at India through the lens of realpolitik.

During the Cold War, India was a critical country to keep out of the Western orbit. Today, it is both a critical market for Russian products and a key partner in Asia.

Russia’s long Asian borders have historically been the source of much consternation. Its border with China is a particularly serious concern. By co-operating with India, Russia is playing a balancing game — it hopes to help India successfully balance against what Moscow regards as their mutual adversary, China.

 

Will the Relations thaw like the Arctic Waters?