India and Russia: An Investigation of Relational Equations (1991-2020)

Abstract

India’s relations with Russia has marked by ambiguity and uncertainty in the post-Cold War period. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was an uncertainty in India’s foreign policy about the direction of its Russia policy. The nature of global politics and power equation structure had posed a serious challenge to the nation-states whether they would be closer to the leader of the unipolar world or not. India was not an exception. India had face a lot of problems and challenges in the early 1990s regarding searching for alternative ways in reviving its fall-downed economy and acceptance of globalization. Bilateral trade is relatively low, but Russia is India’s largest supplier of weapons. Both countries have strong strategic relations and military engagement. Moreover, Russia plays an important role in India’s civilian nuclear program.  India-Russia relations are multi-dimensional and on some issues it is complicated. This paper intends to investigate the relational equations between New Delhi and Moscow critically.