How does Russia perceive India in the post-Cold War period? Is Russia-India relations are of the the same cordiality and friendship as it was during the Soviet period?

The Soviet-Indian relationship from the Khrushchev period to 1991 was. The visit by Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Soviet Union in June 1955 and Khrushchev's return trip to India in the fall of 1955. Economic and military assistance.
Краткое сожержание материала:

Размещено на

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ АГЕНТСТВО ПО ОБРАЗОВАНИЮ

Государственное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального образования

РОССИЙСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ГУМАНИТАРНЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

ИСТОРИКО-АРХИВНЫЙ ИНСТИТУТ

ОТДЕЛЕНИЕ МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ

Мошеев Тимур Артурович

Essay

«How does Russia perceive India in the post-Cold War period? Is Russia-India relations are of the the same cordiality and friendship as it was during the Soviet period?»

India and the International System

студента

4-го курса очной формы обучения

специальность

«Международные отношения»

Москва 2013



THE SOVIET PERIOD

The Soviet-Indian relationship from the Khrushchev period to 1991 was a very friendly one. A cordial relationship with India that began in the 1950s represented the most successful of the Soviet attempts to foster closer relations with Third World countries. The relationship began with a visit by Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Soviet Union in June 1955 and Khrushchev's return trip to India in the fall of 1955. While in India, Khrushchev announced that the Soviet Union supported Indian sovereignty over the Kashmir and Portuguese enclaves. The Soviet Union declared its neutrality during the 1959 border dispute and the Sino-Indian war of 1962, although the Chinese strongly objected. Nehru's socialistic inclinations and his Anglicized distaste for Americans drew him closer then to USSR and China, Nehru's self-righteousness in foreign affairs was equally matched by US secretary of State, Dulles who as early as 1947 remarked that "Soviet Communism exercises a strong influence through the interim Hindu Government". S. Kapila. India-Russia Strategic cooperation: Time to move away // South Asia Analysis Group, 2000.

The USSR gave India substantial economic and military assistance during the Khrushchev period, and by 1960 India had received more Soviet assistance than China had. This disparity became another point of contention in Sino-Soviet relations. In 1962 the Soviet Union agreed to transfer technology to co-produce the MiG-21 jet fighter in India, which the Soviet Union had earlier denied to China. In 1971 the former East Pakistan region initiated an effort to secede from its political union with West Pakistan. India supported the secession and, as a guarantee against possible Chinese entrance into the conflict on the side of West Pakistan, signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union in August 1971. The Soviet-Indian relationship rests on two pillars of mutual interest: the containment of China and the reduction of Western influence in the region".

Additionally, the USSR uses India's status as a leader of the non-aligned movement to bolster Soviet policy in the Third World. India uses Soviet economic and military aid to pursue its own regional goals, the most important of which are containment of Pakistan and Bangladesh. In other words, the Soviet Union and India have the basis for an ideal relationship: India's needs are a match for Soviet capabilities, and Soviet needs are a match for India's strengths. New Delhi and Moscow had built friendly relations on the basis of realpolitik.

India's nonalignment enabled it to accept Soviet support in areas of strategic congruence, as in disputes with Pakistan and China, without subscribing to Soviet global policies or proposals for Asian collective security. India was not part of the Soviet bloc, but could in some respects be seen as a quasi-ally of the Soviet Union. Soviet support was also a useful counter to China, which India saw as its main threat after the 1962 Sino-Indian war. Close and cooperative ties were forged in particular in the sectors of Indian industrial development and defense production and purchases.

These new arrangements contributed to India's emergence as a significant industrial power through the construction of plants to produce steel, heavy machinery and equipment, machine tools, and precision instruments, and to generate power and extract and refine petroleum. Soviet investment was in India's public-sector industry. Soviet aid was extended on the basis of long-term, government-to-government programs, which covered successive phases of technical training for Indians, supply of raw materials, progressive use of Indian inputs, and markets for finished products. Bilateral arrangements were made in nonconvertible national currencies, helping to conserve India's scarce foreign exchange.

Also, the Soviet Union became a significant arms supplier to India, and a significant economic relationship also developed. In 1990, the Soviet-Indian trade turnover was $5.5 billion (of which the Russian republic had a 60% share).

India's military dependence on Russia can be said to be virtually total since 1965 in terms of military hardware for all three arms of its armed forces. After 30 years of reliance on Soviet produced hardware, India finds itself in a position where its armed forces are critically dependent on Russian equipment and spares to the tune of: Army - 75%; Air Force - 80%; Navy - 85% S. Kapila. India-Russia Strategic cooperation: Time to move away, 2000..

But when Gorbachev came into power and disintegration of USSR took place, he had given notice of change of priorities in Russia's foreign policies in favour of China at his famous Vladivostok speech. Somehow India missed noticing Russia's switch in priorities i.e. a China predominant policy as early as 1986. It was Gorbachev who called for a new China Policy and it was he who called for an end to a China encirclement policy and it was Gorbachev who conceded China's basic demands for normalization of relations: Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Soviet pressure to get Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia and the reduction of Soviet military presence along its borders with China.

But, I must say that in 1985 and 1986, 1988, both India and USSR signed pacts to boost bilateral trade and provide Soviet investment and technical assistance for Indian industrial, telecommunications, and transportation projects. In 1985 and 1988, the Soviet Union also extended to India credits of 1 billion rubles and 3 billion rubles, respectively (a total of about US$2.4 billion) J.Heitzman and R.L. Worden. India: A Country Study // Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995, for the purchase of Soviet machinery and goods.

soviet indian khrushchev assistance

POST-COLD WAR ERA

When the Soviet Union disintegrated, India was faced with the difficult task of reorienting its external affairs and forging relations with the fifteen Soviet successor states, of which Russia was the most important. In 1993 New Delhi and Moscow worked to redefine their relationship according to post-Cold War realities. During the January 1993 visit of Russian president Boris Yeltsin to India, the two countries signed agreements that signaled a new emphasis on economic cooperation in bilateral relations.

The 1971 treaty was replaced with the new Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, which dropped security clauses that in the Cold War were directed against the United States and China. Yeltsin stated that Russia would deliver cryogenic engines and space technology for India's space program under a $350 million deal between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Russian space agency, Glavkosmos, despite the imposition of sanctions on both organizations by the United States.

In addition, Yeltsin expressed strong support for India's stand on Kashmir. Russia urged India to support the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and decided in March 1992 to apply "full-scope safeguards" to future nuclear supply agreements. Russia also shares interests with the United States in cooling antagonisms between India and Pakistan, particularly with regard to Kashmir, thus making it unlikely that India could count on Russia in a future dispute with Pakistan.

Bilateral relations between India and Russia improved as a result of eight agreements signed in December 1994. The agreements cover military and technical cooperation from 1995 to 2000, merchant shipping, and promotion and mutual protection of investments, trade, and outer space cooperation. Political observers saw the visit of Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin that occasioned the signing of the eight agreements as a sign of a return to the earlier course of warm relations between New Delhi and Moscow. In March 1995, India and Russia signed agreements aimed at suppressing illegal weapons smuggling and drug trafficking.

On the other hand, the informal suggestion made by the then Prime Minister Eugeny Primakov during his visit to New Delhi in 1998, regarding a "strategic triangle" between Russia, China and India did not at that time evoke enthusiastic response either in India or in China. Our country realized that all the three angles of the proposed triangle are not equal, as mutual apprehension and difficulties between India and China do persist. Moreover, individually each of these three countries has economic and trade transactions with the Western countries on a much larger scale than with one another.

That made Russia took the lead in proposing close...