Looking at the success of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's two-day India visit, it seems that India and Russia are bringing back the old warmth in their relations, which had been lost with the end of Cold War.
India and the former Soviet Union were very close friends, then and India would stand alongside the Soviet Union at international forums to face the might of the United States. After the fall of the Soviet Union and its disintegration, global conditions changed and distance between India and the United States narrowed, and their relationship touched its peak with the nuclear deal between India and the United States. Relations between India and Russia never became sour, but a kind of laxity had crept in, which had created an atmosphere of diplomatic lethargy.
Strategic and Trade Agreements
It has become clear from the strategic and trade agreements signed during Prime Minister Putin's visit that both countries understand each other's significance. It seemed in the last decade that the world was becoming unipolar under US supremacy, but the growing strength and pace of China and India's development have created a new Asian pole.
Countries like India and China along with Russia conceptualized the Shanghai cooperation. Russia emerged as an economic superpower breaking its own economic shackles, but its trade dependence is on Europe. Russia is looking for new markets to change that dependence, and India is a friend as well as an emerging center of trade.
The New Avenues
To balance the power of China and the United States, mutual cooperation between India and Russia would open up new avenues. It is being hoped that bilateral trade, which is currently worth $8 billion annually, would reach $20 billion in the next five years. There has been a big deal with Russia for military weapons and Russia is also prepared to supply necessary uranium fuel and reactors to India, which is in the new nuclear club. India needs energy and there is huge reserve of petroleum products in Russia.
The United States is India's new friend, but there is always a shadow of doubt over this friendship because of double-faced policies of Washington regarding Pakistan. At the same time, the manner in which China is tightening its strategic and economic grip around India, cooperation between India and Russia becomes inevitable for peace and power balance.
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