The visit was originally scheduled for October this year but it was postponed at the last minute to give more time to both the governments to find out solutions to the vexed issues of Kudankulam power plants pricing, legal hassles of the Russian major Sistema, the delay in the delivery of INS Vikramaditya and the bargaining over the pricing of the defence products. All the issues are being tackled on a priority basis and there are reasons to believe that solutions to the satisfaction of both sides will be worked out.

While it’s true that Russia stands to gain much by reinvigorating its strategic partnership with India, strengthening the already existing ties of security, energy and technological alliances as well as joint-ventures, the fact that Russia tops the list of New Delhi’s strategic partners, according to a study conducted by the Foundation for National Security Research, a Delhi-based think tank, is never put aside by the policymakers in India. While BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) form a new corridor of power challenging the hegemony of the US and European Union, Russia and India form the closest ties even within this nexus of fast developing emerging powers.

While Russia can once again become the pillar of security and the wellspring of military requirements for India, as it has been during much of the post-independence era, but now helping expand the Indian base by making inroads to the oil-and-gas-rich Central Asian Republics, India in turn can make Russia rethink its relationship with Western Europe and embrace a more multilateral and broader Eurasian perspective.

Since independence, Russia has enjoyed a special place in the Indian imagination, beginning with Nehru’s ideological self-experiments with communism during the anti-colonial movement, to his celebrated visit to Moscow in 1955, which was quickly followed by a reciprocal gesture by the USSR President Nikita Khrushchev in the same year. It was during this time that Soviet Union helped out a struggling Indian economy to stand on its own feet, with extensive aid in heavy industries and defence sectors.

The radiant phase of Indo-Soviet honeymoon continued into the sixties, when USSR sided with India during the wars with Pakistan and China, leading to the temporary peace aided by the Soviet-facilitated Tashkent Declaration in 1966. However, the partnership culminated in Soviet Union’s extensive participation in 1971 in India’s war against West Pakistan to liberate East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The year 1971 marked, as it were, the apotheosis of Indo-Soviet romance, with the signing of the historic Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, the first of its kind that USSR had forged with any country.

Although, India and Russia witnessed a lukewarm phase in their relationship in the post-Cold War era, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, followed by Russia’s botched experiments with crony capitalism and its short-lived pro-Atlantic tilt during the rule of Boris Yeltsin, nevertheless, with the coming of Vladimir Putin to power in 2000, Russia saw a resurgence of its own role in the global arena and a simultaneous renewal of its interest in old friend India.

In 2001, was signed the Indo-Russian Strategic Agreement, with Putin heading Russia and Atal Behari Vajpayee leading the NDA government in India. The official phraseology since then has been indicative, saying that the ‘Indo-Russian relations are civilisational and time-tested’ and that the ‘importance attached to them cuts across party lines in India and is not subject to political vicissitudes.’ This has been reflected in the rhetoric deployed by ex-President Pratibha Patil, during her visit to Moscow in 2009 to meet the then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and subsequently, the then Prime Minister Putin’s coming to India the following year.

Russia has always been loyal to India’s strategic interests in the South Asian region, be its position on Kashmir, stance on Pakistan, AfPak crises and terrorism, or its open nuclear ambitions. Several studies, such as those by David Malone, Anuradha Chenoy and others, have established that Russia is remarkably comfortable with India’s rise as a global power and its steep economic growth. In fact, it goes without saying that a strong India-Russia tie can create a balance of power in the Asia-Pacific.

While the first 65 years of diplomatic relations have been characterised by mutual trust and benefit, casting Russia in a more magnanimous and giving light, the next phase of Indo-Russian partnership can indeed be set on an equal platform. With a burgeoning Indian economy that grows at least at six percent in a bad year, the Russians have an enormous market in this South Asian powerhouse for their continuing defence and technological exports. Key areas of cooperation include defence and military transactions, technological exchange, energy security, nuclear energy, space exploration, and finally cultural and educational exchange programs.

It is obvious that the Russian advocacy of a multilateral, multipolar world in the post-Soviet phase is decidedly an exercise in ensuring global security and espousing a politics of inclusion by cutting back on US hegemony in all sectors of world politics and trade. This politics of inclusion is greatly beneficial for India for it does not shun so-called US branded rogue states like Iran, with which India can have geostrategic liaisons, especially in the energy sector.

Geostrategic advantage is extended to both as India and Russia look to heighten their cooperation in all possible areas. In the energy sector, Russia can help advance India’s interest in the huge oil and natural gas reserves in the Central Asian Republics (CAR) of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. India is energy-hungry and in order to cater for its massive population, Russian and CAR countries, in addition to the unstable Iran and other middle-eastern countries, can chip in.

In addition, India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) stakes in Russia’s Sakhalin I, and also the proposal to be a part of Sakhalin III, will keep feeding the South Asian country’s energy needs. India also stands to benefit from Russia’s involvement in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that might push the trilateral cooperation between India, Russia and China, but also help counter the increasing Chinese domination as well.

In sum, the time is ripe for the historical Indo-Russian cooperation to enter its next phase of bilateral relationship. Needless to say that it is a rare form of partnership that has seen the most heartfelt of emotions in the 1950s, when ordinary Russians were mad about Raj Kapoor films and Indian politicos hailed the Soviet worldview. In the light of the new developments of the second decade of the twenty-first century, a rejuvenated India-Russia partnership is of paramount importance for ensuring peace, security and growth in Asia-Pacific. (IPA Service)