Political Science · Ch 1 — The End of Bipolarity
India and Post-communist Countries
India and Post-communist Countries
India’s relations with the post-communist countries have been consistently good, but the strongest and most significant ties are with Russia. This relationship is not just a matter of diplomacy; it is deeply rooted in decades of trust, shared interests, and popular affection. In Russia and many former Soviet republics, Indian film stars like Raj Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan are household names, Hindi film songs are widely heard, and India remains a part of popular memory.
At the strategic level, India and Russia share a vision of a multipolar world order. By this, they mean a world where several powers coexist, rather than one dominated by a single superpower. This vision includes:
- Collective security — the principle that an attack on any one country is a threat to all, requiring a joint response.
- Greater regionalism — encouraging regional groupings to manage their own affairs.
- Negotiated settlements of international conflicts.
- Independent foreign policy for all countries, free from external pressure.
- Strengthening, democratising, and empowering the United Nations and similar bodies.
The institutional backbone of this partnership is the Indo-Russian Strategic Agreement of 2001, under which more than 80 bilateral agreements have been signed.
Why India benefits from the relationship:
- Support on the Kashmir issue.
- Access to energy supplies, especially oil and gas.
- Sharing information on international terrorism.
- Access to Central Asia, a region of growing strategic importance.
- A useful counterbalance in relations with China.
Why Russia benefits from the relationship:
- India is the second largest arms market for Russia. The Indian military sources most of its hardware from Russia.
- Russia gains a reliable partner in Asia with shared strategic interests.
Energy and technology cooperation:
- India is a major oil-importing nation, and Russia has repeatedly helped India during oil crises. India is now working to increase energy imports not only from Russia but also from the republics of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, including partnerships and investments in oilfields. …
The figure is a reproduction of a BBC news report filed by Louise Hidalgo, the network’s Central Asia Correspondent. It is not a photograph or a diagram but a screenshot of a news article or broadcast segment. The report’s headline and text would have focused on some aspect of post-Soviet Central Asia — likely covering political, economic, or social developments in the region after the collapse of the USSR.
What the figure teaches is that the end of bipolarity did not just mean the disappearance of the Soviet Union as a superpower. It also created a new geopolitical space — Central Asia — that had been closed off during the Cold War. Countries like India, which had maintained strong ties with the USSR, now had to re-engage with newly independent republics such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The BBC report symbolises how global media began to pay attention to this region as it opened up. …
During the Cold War era, India and the USSR enjoyed a special relationship which led critics to say that India was part of the Soviet camp. It was a multi- dimensional relationship: Economic: The Soviet Union assisted India’s public sector companies at a time when such assistance was difficult to get. It gave aid and technical assistance for steel plants like Bhilai, Bokaro, Visakhapatnam, and machinery plants like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., etc. The Soviet Union accepted Indian currency for trade when India was short of foreign exchange. Political: The Soviet Union supported India’s positions on the Kashmir issue in the UN. It also supported India during its major conflicts, especially during the war with Pakistan in 1971. India too supported Soviet foreign policy in some crucial but indirect ways. Military: India received most of its military hardware from the Soviet Union at a time when few other countries were willing to part with military technologies. The Soviet Union entered into various agreements allowin …