India-Russia Relations

Reference

• Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed a two-day visit to Russia to participate in the 22nd India-Russia Annual Summit. This is Prime Minister Modi's first visit to Russia after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
• During this visit, President Vladimir Putin awarded Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russia's highest civilian honor "Order of St. Andrew the Apostle" for his outstanding contribution to the development of "special and privileged strategic partnership" between India and Russia and friendly relations between the people of the two countries.
  • The "Order of St. Andrew the Apostle" honor was established by Tsar Peter the Great in the year 1698 in honor of St. Andrew, the first apostle of Jesus and the patron saint of Russia.

Key facts related to the visit

• Agreement on the release of 'misguided' Indians involved in the Russian army.
• Target to increase bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030.
• Announcement by India to open new consulates in the Russian cities of Kazan and Yekaterinburg.
• Discussion on the possibility of construction of six new nuclear power units in India by Russia's state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom.
  • Rosatom had earlier supplied nuclear fuel to the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in the years 2022 and 2023.
  • It is known that,

History of India-Russia Bilateral Relations

• Establishment of Diplomatic Relations: Formal diplomatic relations between India and the Soviet Union were established in April 1947, prior to India’s independence.
• Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship: During the Indo-Pak War (1971), Russia supported India while the US supported Pakistan.
• Declaration on India-Russia Strategic Partnership: The “India-Russia Strategic Partnership Declaration” was signed during President Putin’s visit to India in October 2000.
• Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership: During the Russian President’s visit to India in 2010, the strategic partnership between the two countries was elevated to the level of “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership”.
• Start of 2+2 Dialogue: In December 2021, a new dimension was added to bilateral cooperation with the summit-level talks between the Prime Minister and President Putin as well as the first 2+2 dialogue (foreign and defence ministers of the two countries).

Areas of Cooperation between India-Russia

Trade and Economic Relations

• Bilateral Trade: According to data from the Indian Department of Commerce, bilateral trade has reached an all-time high of $65.70 billion in FY 2023-24.
  • Before Russia's attack on Ukraine, both countries had set a target of increasing bilateral trade to $30 billion.
  • India's exports during this period were $4.26 billion and imports were #61.44 billion.
  • Major items of exports from India include pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, electrical machinery and mechanical equipment, iron and steel.
  • Major items of imports from Russia include crude oil and petroleum products, fertilizers, mineral resources, precious stones and metals, vegetable oil.
• Bilateral Investment: Bilateral investment between the two countries remains strong and has achieved the revised target of $50 billion by the year 2025.
• In the field of Energy: Between February 2022 and 2023, following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India's oil imports from Russia increased from 1 percent (3.6 million tonnes) to 40 percent (56 million tonnes) of India's gross oil imports.

Defence and Security

• Historical Cooperation: The Soviet Union was the main supplier of India's defence equipment during the Cold War decades. 60-70% of India's defence equipment is of Russian and Soviet origin.
• Convening Authority: Cooperation in the field of defence is guided by the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) mechanism, which is chaired by the Defence Ministers of the two countries.
  • The 20th IRIGC-M&MTC meeting was held in December 2021.
• Military Exercises: All branches of the armed forces of the two countries participate in bilateral and multilateral military exercises.
  • The bilateral military exercise INDRA was last held in the year 2021.
  • Both countries also participate in multilateral exercises like Vostok.
• Bilateral Projects: These include supply of S-400, licensed production of T-90 tanks and Su-30 MKI, supply of MiG-29 and Kamov helicopters, INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov), production of Ak-203 rifles in India and BrahMos missiles.

Science and Technology

• India and Russia are working together on basic sciences, materials science, mathematics and cutting-edge areas such as India's manned space flight programme (Gaganyaan), nanotechnology and quantum computing.
• Bilateral cooperation on science and technology is guided by the new Roadmap for Science, Technology and Innovation signed during the 21st Annual Summit in New Delhi in 2021.
• India's only nuclear power plant established with another country (Russia) is the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant located in Tamil Nadu.

Academic Sector

• Indian students are enrolled in various courses in Russia in subjects like engineering, economics, science and other subjects. The largest group of Indian students studying in Russia is medical students.
• Indology is taught in many Russian universities apart from Indian languages ​​like Hindi, Sanskrit and Pali. Indology refers to the academic study of India, its people, culture, languages ​​and literature.
• The two countries are collaborating on innovations in various focus areas like smart mobility, agri-tech, clean energy, space research and healthcare.
• In continuation to this, Prime Minister Modi and President Putin jointly visited the Academic Institute of Sochi, Russia (2018) and IIT Delhi (2019).

Cultural Cooperation

• India and Russia have deep and historic cultural ties.
  • The famous Russian artist and philosopher Nicholas Roerich settled in Himachal Pradesh towards the end of his life.
  • Writers like Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin have had a profound influence on Indian literature and thought.
• The Moscow-based Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre (JNCC) maintains close cultural cooperation with leading Russian institutions.
• Indian cinema and yoga are also very popular in Russia.

Citizen to Citizen Relations

• The e-visa facility by both the countries has helped in strengthening the people to people relations.
• Prominent Indians who have contributed to further strengthening the political, scientific and cultural relations between Russia and India have been awarded the Russian State Award.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded Russia's highest national award "The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle" during his 2024 visit. This award was announced in the year 2019.

India-Russia Relations: Key Challenges

• Russia-China Relations: Russia and China are increasing their military cooperation, engaging in joint economic activities and getting united on diplomatic fronts. This situation may negatively impact traditional India-Russia relations.
• Growing Closeness with Pakistan: In recent years, Russia has tried to improve its relations with Pakistan, which may be a response to the growing closeness between India-US relations.
• Diplomatic Dilemma for India: India has purchased arms worth US$20 billion from the US in the last two decades.
  • India is faced with the dilemma of choosing between a “comprehensive global strategic partnership” with the US and a “special and privileged partnership” with Russia.
  • Beyond Russia, India has also grown closer to France and Israel for defence supplies.
• Russia- Ukraine conflict: India has refrained from opposing Russia at various forums. On the other hand, India's growing energy and economic cooperation with Russia is facing criticism from Western countries.
• Russia's concerns over Indian foreign policy: The idea of ​​Indo-Pacific and Quad have been criticized from time to time by Russian officials.

Way Forward

• Engagement in India-Russia relations through various forums: Apart from bilateral synergy, both countries are members of various multilateral organisations including BRICS, Russia-India-China Group (RIC), G20, East Asia Summit and SCO, where opportunities for cooperation exist on issues of mutual importance.
• Cooperation in Security Council: Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and has been a supporter of India on various issues including Kashmir at the international forum. So in the current situation of Ukraine crisis, India has also been supporting Russia directly and indirectly from time to time, which is important for India-Russia relations.
• Exploring new dimensions for relations: India-Russia relations cannot survive only on the basis of defence and historical ties.
  • With the ongoing systemic changes in international relations, there is a need to explore new dimensions of cooperation to build a strong economic and strategic partnership.
  • Conceptually, the two countries can cooperate in areas such as counter-terrorism, cyber security, space and climate change.

Conclusion

The India-Russia partnership has been one of the most stable relationships in the contemporary era, with a shared commitment to a multipolar world and expanding beyond the traditional areas of military, nuclear and space cooperation. Several connectivity initiatives are also important to bilateral cooperation, notably the International North-South Transport Corridor and the Chennai-Vladivostok Eastern Sea Corridor. In addition, the two countries are committed to strengthening cooperation in the development of the Russian Far East region and working together in research, logistics and training in the Arctic region.