Be Mains Ready

Approach

• Give historical aspect about India’s relations with US and Russia.
• Explain how contemporary geopolitics is pushing India towards US.
• Mention some contentious issues between India and the US.
• Explain importance of Russia for India’s strategic interests.
• Conclude by suggesting India’s future course of action.

Introduction

The Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, 1971 marked India’s inclination towards Soviet Russia during the cold war era. On the other hand, India US relations were marked with distrust and estrangement over India's nuclear program in the 1970s. However, Indo-US relations have warmed in recent years and cooperation has strengthened across a range of economic and political areas.

Body

Contemporary geopolitics forces India and US to come closer. This can be attributed to the following reasons:

• Rise of revisionist China: US considers India to be a chief security provider to counter the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific. Chinese adventurism in South China Sea gave momentum to the formation of the Quadrilateral grouping between India, USA, Japan and Australia.
• Terrorism: US President Donald Trump’s policies are aligned with India’s strong campaign against global terrorism. Designating Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist by UNSC signifies a new level of diplomatic cooperation between India and the USA.
• Defence cooperation:
  
  • Aggregate worth of defence acquisition from US has crossed over $13bn.
  • Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) for co-production and co-development of weapon systems and platforms.
  • New defence agreements like Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), etc.

Hence, cooperation with the US is in India’s strategic interests. However, there are certain contentious issues between India and the US, which forces India to look beyond US. For example:

• US law CAATSA which imposes sanctions on India for buying S-400 Triumf anti-missile system which is critical for India’s defence. India’s Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Russia in March 2019 to lease another of its Akula-Class attack nuclear submarine (SSN) drew heavy criticism from the USA.
• US protectionist trade policies like ending Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme for India has affected Indian exports to the USA. India-US conflict at WTO platform is another case in point.
• Energy Security: US sanctions on Iran which led India to stop oil imports from Iran threatening India‘s energy security and economic stability.

Hence, US leadership’s unpredictable foreign policies forces India to reach out to its oldest ally Russia. Russia’s importance for India can be understood from the following heads:

• Russia's support is very critical for the success of the International North-South Corridor and India's access to Central Asia.
• Russia lead Afghanistan peace process is crucial for India since Afghanistan’s geopolitics is linked with stability of the region.
• Russia has been India’s oldest military ally and exporter of defence equipment. Russia’s support is critical for the maintenance and upgradation of Indian military equipment.
• India can gain from Russia’s coordination in the fields of critical technology like artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, outer space, energy sector, etc.

Also, it can be said that Russia’s closeness with China and Pakistan is tactical, mainly induced due to western sanctions, whereas Russia-India partnership is strategic. Russia has always seen India as a balancer against China, this is reflected in India's inclusion into SCO, facilitated by Russia.

Conclusion

• Therefore, Indian diplomats need to maintain a fine balance between USA and Russia and work for India’s national interests without undermining its strategic autonomy. In the words of Henry Kissinger ”In international politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.”