15 May 2020, NIICE Commentary 4669
Pooran Chandra Pandey
India-Russia relations are deeply embedded in history, trust and mutually beneficial cooperation. This is a strategic partnership which has withstood the test of time, and enjoys popular support of the people in both the countries. The relationship became more substantive over the last 73 years, since the two nations established their diplomatic relations on 13 April 1947, even before India achieved its independence. Diplomatic relations between the two nations continue to gain momentum even during the current, on-ground geopolitical realities. Over the decades, the Soviet Union had systematically invested in India’s heavy machine-building, defense, mining, energy production and steel plants, much beyond normal sentiment of cooperation. The Soviet Union also supported establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
A key defining moment in the relations between India and the Soviet Union was the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in August 1971 as a blueprint for the strengthening of regional and global peace and security relations, and it pivoted the relationship to status of a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership with Annual India-Russia Summits. Post the breakup of the USSR, the adoption of the historic St. Petersburg Declaration: Vision for the 21st Century, and signing of 12 Agreements in economic and political areas in 2017, saw a new era of relationship between India and Russia. This tested the bilateralism between the two nations, which saw its new peak in 2019 with New Delhi purchasing the Russian missile defence system S-400, valued at USD 5.50 billion, despite competing odds.
Defence, Development and Cooperation
The defence facet of the relationship is one of the strongest pillars, and has institutionalised over the last seven decades. India, with Russia’s cooperation, achieved capacity-building in strategic areas through acquisitions and development of weapons, as well as sharing of defense technology. Russia is further committed to becoming a partner in the ‘Make in India’ programme. India is the largest buyer of Russian military equipment and, at the same time, Russia is India’s principal defence partner. In keeping with the close cooperation between our two countries in the defence sector, several steps are on anvil to increase training of officers in each other’s defence and military institutions, undertake more joint military exercises, and so on.
Partnerships in Trade and Commerce
Trade between the two countries is an area which has been identified for special focus by both the countries. Bilateral trade in 2015 amounted to USD 7.83 billion, while in 2017, trade in services was USD 1095.4 million but it reduced slightly in 2018 to USD 999 million. The figure stands at USD 633.68 million for the period of January to June, 2019. Russian investments in India in 2017 amounted to USD 18 billion and India’s total investment in Russia so far is USD 13 billion. In terms of volume, the present figures do not reflect the strength of the relationship or the potential of both economies, which are immense. Realising this, Indian leadership has set a target of total trade in goods and services of USD 30 billion each way by 2025, and both sides are making progress towards achieving this target of mutual investment. In 2016, Indian oil companies bought stakes in Russian companies and oilfields worth USD 5.5 billion, and the Russian company Rosneft has acquired an Indian company, ESSAR, in a deal worth USD 13 billion. This is not only Russia’s largest investment in India, but also India’s single largest foreign direct investment (FDI). India and Russia have set up a USD 1 billion Fund to promote mutual investment in infrastructure and technology projects. India, Russia and other neighbouring countries are engaged in efforts to operationalise the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which promises to propel connectivity and trade relations between the member countries. India is also working on a ‘Green Corridor’ to ease trade and customs formalities and the two countries have signed a Protocol on 24 December 2015, to simplify visa procedures for businessmen. In an important new step to integrate our economies, India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) have agreed to begin negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement.
Civil Nuclear Partnership
Russia is an indispensable partner in the sphere of nuclear energy and recognises India as a responsible country with advanced nuclear technology and an impeccable non-proliferation record. After the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, India considers nuclear energy as an important source of energy to meet its energy and climate change obligations. This has brought both countries together into a mutually beneficial relationship. ROSATOM, the Russian state-sponsored Nuclear Energy Company, is building six units of nuclear reactors at the Kudankulam site in Tamil Nadu. Two units are already operational and the next four are in different stages of implementation. This is in line with the “Strategic Vision” document signed in 2014 between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Russia’s support to Indian nuclear power plants and space discovery programmes including training and capacity of future astronauts and supply of defence equipments and military hardware, is strengthening the relations. Both the nations have agreed to cooperate in projects in third-world countries and the two are likely to cooperate more fully in the Roopur Nuclear Power Project in Bangladesh. While Indian and Russian companies have been cooperating in oil and gas exploration in Vietnam, there is also emerging cooperation in the Arctic, which has a lot of multi-disciplinary potential.
Regional and International Cooperation
In the international arena, India and Russia have similar positions and coordinate their actions on a regular basis. They cooperate closely within the United Nations, BRICS and G-20 groupings, as well as in various other structures in the Asia Pacific region such as ASEAN and East Asia Summit Forum. In true spirit of the bilateral relations, Russia also supported India’s membership to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and India has been a permanent member of the SCO since 2017. The unique political proximity between the nations is reflected in their congruence in global priorities. Both the countries share similar views on fighting terrorism without double standards, a more representative multi-polar world order based on international law with UN playing a central role, and resolving threats to international peace and security. Russia supports India’s permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). On Syria and Afghanistan, both countries have called for peaceful solution and the two countries also cooperate on other global challenges such as cyber security, preventing weaponisation of outer space and reduction in weapons of mass destruction.
Way Ahead
In a fast-changing world order, routinely driven by geo-political interests, India and Russia have identified several new areas of partnerships and cooperation – deep sea exploration to building knowledge-based economies based on science and technology, innovation, robotics and artificial intelligence, infrastructure, skill development, agriculture, shipbuilding, railways, aviation and greater connectivity, especially people-to-people contacts. Special focus, however, remains centred around cooperation between the younger generation, in the cultural sphere. The St. Petersburg Declaration, June 2017, rightly lays down the contours for future India-Russia relationship, by stating that it [the relations] would be “an absolute priority of the foreign policy of both the States. The two nations would continue to widen their scope of cooperation by launching large-scale initiatives in different spheres and enhance and enrich their bilateral agenda so as to make it more result-oriented”.
India- Russia relations historically have hinged on strategic partnerships and geopolitical realities. India’s aspirations to be a leading power in the Asia-Pacific and Russia’s matching influence in Eurasia and outer Europe well converge on common ground. Emerging regional context and shifting global narratives will potentially further deepen the relations between the two nations – more by values, history and soft power, rather than just through trade, defense and commerce.
