Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
6
Indo-Russian Strategic Relations: New
Choices and Constraints
DEEPA OLLAPALLY
Indo-Russian relations have had to be significantly refashioned, if not
reinvented, since the end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union,
and along with it, the foundation of India's decades-old foreign policy
framework.
In 1991, India simultaneously faced twin shocks: the undoing of its strategic
framework and a financial crisis rooted in the decaying Nehruvian economic
model. Russia continues to be plagued by multiple challenges in the security and
economic sphere and remains uncertain about the major parameters of its foreign
policy. For both states, it is clear that the old era of predictable partners and well-
worn issues has dramatically changed. In its place, they have to deal with cross-
cutting issues and cleavages, strategic events with enormous flux and no
overarching framework, all of which require much more diplomatic finesse and
nimbleness in relation to friends and foes who cannot be taken for granted and
are no longer fixed.
Both countries continue to be preoccupied with finding their footing on the
global scene, but ten years hence, India seems to have weathered the crises better
than Russia in refashioning a viable economic and strategic posture. In the
process, this period has witnessed a certain amount of experimentation in
strategic affairs by Russia and India, with lessons that are not going to be lost on
either
vis-à-vis
the limits and possibilities of their future ties.
In considering the contours of Indo-Russian strategic relations in the post-Cold
War period and their future prospects, this paper will approach the topic at three
levels of analysis: bilateral, regional and global. The main argument of the paper
is that while the relationship at the bilateral level has been critical so far, the
global level has receded and will continue to do so, while the regional aspects
hold the key to future relations. In making this argument, the contribution
focuses on various dimensions, including Russia's decline as a global power; the
bilateral arms transfers and the commercial character of that relationship; and
regional imperatives which were emerging, but are now fully stimulated by the
change in American global strategy which has a significant focus on South/
Southwest Asia.
