India Russia

• India and Russia celebrated 50th anniversary of Indo Soviet Treaty on peace, friendship and cooperation 1971.

Significance of the treaty

• Upholds principle of strategic autonomy
• International Pact
• Convergence of interests in face of regional and international challenges
• Contemporary significance in India- Russia relations

Strategic Importance of India-Russia relations

• Defence partnership: rest on 3 features of technology transfer, joint development, marketing & selling and export of equipment (an agreement non-existent with any other country).
• BrahMos Cruise Missile program,
• Sukhoi Su30 and Tactical Transport Aircraft.
• Economic Relations: bilateral trade of $7.5 Bn in 2019 and set investment targets of achieving $30 billion by 2025.
• Energy Security: Russia has built nuclear reactors in India (Kudankulam reactors), adopted strategic vision in nuclear energy, offered oil, gas and investment opportunities in the fuel sector of Russia e.g., Sakhalin- I etc.
• Both are extending civil nuclear cooperation to 3rd world countries like Bangladesh.
• Space technology: four-decade strong relationship Soviet Union launched India’s first two satellites, Aryabhata and Bhaskar. It has provided India Cryogenic technology to build heavy rockets.
• International standing: Russia has supported India’s bid for permanent seat in UNSC. It has been favouring India’s entry to Nuclear Supplier Group. Both countries coordinate each other over forums including BRICS, SCO, G20 etc.
• Cultural Relations: From people-to-people contacts (through programs like ‘Namaste Russia’) to sharing educational brilliance of both the countries through institutes like Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre.

Contemporary issues

• India’s growing proximity to the United States: Rapidly expanding ties and growing defence relationship between India and US, and India joining quadrilateral group led by the US has led to a strategic shift in Russia’s foreign policy. For Russia, it has been a period of great hostility with West, thus pushing it to align with China.
• Defence partnership:
• India has been diversifying its defence relations with US, Israel etc. Russia’s share of Indian defence imports fell from 79 percent between 2008-2012 to 62 percent between 2013-2017.
• India and US signed four foundational agreements (Like Logistics agreement, Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement etc.), which shows enhanced inter-operability between the two militaries. India Russia relation lacks this aspect.
• However, India-Russia bilateral logistics agreement, The Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS) is to be concluded soon.
• Trade: one-dimensional i.e., defence based and far below in comparison to India’s bilateral trade with China and the United States.
• issues that hinder India-Russia trade, like, connectivity issues, distance, weak banking links, cumbersome regulations on both sides and Russia’s restrictive visa regime.
• Russia’s changed foreign policy posture:
• Towards Pakistan: Russia lifted arms embargo on Pakistan, both conducted a military exercise, and a military-technical cooperation agreement was signed between the two which deals with arms supply and weapon development. All these factors raised concerns in India.
• Towards China: Russia has sold advanced military technology to Beijing, endorsed China’s One Belt One Road and leaning toward Beijing in forums like the BRICS. Also, both inaugurated the first cross-border pipeline between their countries, called the “Power of Siberia” to pump natural gas from Russia’s far-east regions to China which shows increasing collaboration between two.
• Towards Taliban: Russia is showing inclination towards Taliban in Afghanistan while India continues to have concerns about the group. For example, India has not been invited to a crucial meeting being convened by Russia on the fast-evolving situation in Afghanistan.

Way forward

• Diversifying areas of cooperation beyond energy and defence. The trade relationship remains weak and needs active intervention to take advantage of policies like ‘Make in India’.
• members of various multilateral organisations including BRICS, RIC, G20, East Asia Summit and SCO—where avenues for cooperation on issues of mutual importance exist.
• need for cooperation in areas like counter terrorism, cyber security, the Afghanistan conflict, outer space, and climate change
• Mutual needs: India prevent it from becoming more dependent than it already is on China. At the same time, Russia would also benefit from diversifying its relations across the region, including India, so as to prevent its pivot to Asia becoming a pivot to China.
• Relevance in Indo-Pacific region: India would benefit from a closer cooperation with Russia in the Indo- Pacific.
• Strengthening Eurasian Presence: The proposal of Russia for a ‘more extensive Eurasian partnership involving the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China, India, Pakistan and Iran’ should be used by India to strengthen its presence in Eurasia.

India-Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue (IRSED) was established by MoU between NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation at Annual India-Russia Bilateral Summit in New Delhi.

• First India-Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue in St. Petersburg between November 25-26, 2018
• Second IRSED focussed on six core areas of cooperation:
• Development of Transport Infrastructure and Technologies
• Development of Agriculture and Agro-Processing sector
• Small and Medium Business support
• Digital Transformation and Frontier Technologies
• Cooperation in Trade, Banking, Finance, and Industry
• Tourism & Connectivity.

India in Russian Far East 

• 20th India-Russia annual summit and fifth meeting Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russia.  
• development of Russian Far East India has extended a $1 billion line of credit.  
• Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) to support the economic development of Russia’s Far East, and to expand international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.participants are India, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, and South Korea.  
• In the last five years, as many as 17 different countries invested in the Far East. As a result, 20 advanced special economic zones and five free ports have been put in place.  

Importance of Russian Far East for India

• Resource Rich Region: sparsely populated and underdeveloped has 98 per cent of diamond and 50 per cent of gold are mined,
• Investment Opportunities: bring returns in the areas of oil and petroleum fields like Sakhalin-I and Vankorneft
• Connectivity: maritime route between Chennai and Vladivostok will bypass Europe & enable to transfer cargo in 24 days in comparison to over 40 days currently taken to transport goods from India to Far East Russia via Europe
• Crucial employment opportunities: lack of manpower problems faced by the Far East and Indian professionals like doctors, engineers and teachers can help in the region’s development.  

With China increasing its impact in far east and Russia also wanting a competitor to China, there is need for India to step up on bilateral cooperation in the Russian Far East in partnership with the private sector from both the countries.

cooperation between Russia and China

• first cross-border pipeline- Power of Siberia”. 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations between Russia and China. 
• Russian arms exports to China have grown both quantitively and qualitatively. E.g. Russia recently sold Sukhoi-35s fighter jets and S-400 surface to air missiles to China
• Vostok 18, the biggest Russian military exercise involved Chinese participation at large scale
• Both are part of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) regarded as the "alliance of the East”.
• On economic front:  part of BRICS and its other institutions such as New Development Bank which is often perceived to be a counter to Western institutions like World Bank.Eastern Economic Forum saw participation from China.

Implications on India-Russia Relations

• Russia’s relationship with China it can no longer give India a favourable position vis-à-vis China. E.g. Russia has been at the forefront of advising India not to challenge China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
• Russia is being involved into the Sino-Pakistan nexus. Russia is reaching out to Pakistan despite Indian reservations and is changing its tune on the Afghanistan issue as well.

India has also cultivated a ‘special and privileged partnership’ with Russia. Despite the threat of American sanctions, the India recently signed a $5.2 billion pact with Russia for procuring five S-400 air defence systems. In the world of complex inter-dependence, it is necessary for India and Russia to prevent third countries from exerting significant influence on their bilateral ties.