India’s growing relations with the US and Russia’s expanding ties with China and Pakistan are issues on which there can be conflict of interest. Ms Moulik makes a compelling case for both countries to focus on their convergences.
I would like to warmly congratulate and commend Ms Achala Moulik for her latest offering on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the “Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation” between India and the Soviet Union on 9 August 1971, in New Delhi. Being familiar with her extensive repertoire of writings, both in fiction as well as non-fiction, particularly in the arena of Russian history and culture, a great deal was expected from this volume. It would be an understatement to say that she does not disappoint.
What Ms Moulik does effortlessly is to use this historic event in the evolution of bilateral relations between these time-tested friends as a pivot and weaves the whole expanse of relations from several millennia to the present day and beyond. Most students and scholars of India-Russia relations are familiar with the immense contributions of travellers and academics like Afanasy Nikitin and Gerasim Lebedev and more recently Leo Tolstoy and the Roerich family to strengthening understanding between the two cultures and peoples. Ms Moulik, however, takes us back several thousand years when many “references to Indian traditions, customs and beliefs are found in Russian literature and folklore”.
The 1971 Treaty of course gets the pride of place in her writing, but she does not limit herself only to that. Using this momentous occasion, which represented the pinnacle of strategic and political relations between India and the Soviet Union, she extrapolates it to the present day and to the future.
Ms Moulik acknowledges that the current times are very different from the somewhat simpler times of the Cold War when there were two major powers, of which Soviet Union was one, and a group of Non-Aligned Nations, of which India was an important member. The current times are defined by a relative decline in the power of the United States and the Western Alliance, and the growing economic and military power of China. All this has been superimposed by Ms Moulik over the disintegration of the Soviet Union 30 years ago.
In this background, there are a large number of areas in which the interests of India and Russia are identical or similar and a few in which there are differences. India’s growing relations with the US and Russia’s expanding ties with China and Pakistan are issues on which there can be conflict of interest. Ms Moulik makes a compelling case for both countries to focus on their convergences by further expanding and deepening their relations in those areas and minimizing the areas where their views or interests do not coincide.
Quad and Indo-Pacific have emerged as areas with which Russia has difficulty. India has tried to explain to its Russian interlocutors that India’s growing relations with the US or its membership of the Quad or Indo-Pacific are not in any way directed against Russia. They are an insurance against the aggression and expansionist policy of China. It is a matter of regret that Russia has failed to fully appreciate the threat that India faces from China on its land borders, particularly because there is no lessening of China’s intimidating actions in sight. Moreover, Russia uses terms and phrases to describe the Quad as “Asian NATO”, which are normally used by China. Some Russian officials also sing paeans of praise for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, fully realising that its flagship project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes through territory illegally occupied by Pakistan. It would be reassuring if these Russian officials were to simultaneously criticise China for its aggression against India, for unilaterally violating all the agreements signed between the two for maintaining peace and tranquility on their border and for constructing the CPEC through territory belonging to India. India has concerns about some of Russia’s policies with respect to its relations with China, Pakistan as well as on Afghanistan, but India prefers to discuss them on one-to-one basis rather than airing the criticism in front of the media as some Russian officials are wont to do about their opposition to some Indian policies.
The above is all the more disconcerting as notwithstanding the threats of US statutory sanction provisions like CAATSA, India has continued to expand its relations with Russia in the defence, armament and other sectors. Purchase of S-400 missile defence system, extension of the bilateral Defence Agreement for a further 10 years, holding of the 2+2 Dialogue etc. should be adequate reassurance that India is determined to and capable of upholding its strategic autonomy.
In spite of the above, Ms Moulik emphasises that the areas of convergence are far greater than the few issues that separate us. And every day, new issues are being added, on which both the countries can collaborate. Central Asia, the Arctic, Russia’s Far East, INSTC, Chennai-Vladivostok link, Connectivity etc., are a few of the new issues where the two countries are working together in addition to traditional themes like defence, nuclear energy, hydrocarbons, trade and investment, space, science and technology, etc.
The biggest strength of the two countries in the rapidly changing global scenario is the trust, confidence and respect that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin have for each other. This was evident during the 21st Annual Summit between the two leaders on 6 December 2021, when Putin travelled from Moscow to New Delhi so that he could participate in the summit for a few hours. This was also to emphasise the very special relationship between India and Russia. Russia would not wish to see a China-dominated Asia or a China-dominated world. In pursuit of a multi polar world, India is its most viable partner.
What adds significant value to the publication is the chapter on the former Ambassador of Russia to India and a great fried of this country, Alexander M. Kadakin. Ambassador Kadakin has a large number of friends and admirers in this country who are immensely grateful not only for his contribution to cementing India-Russia ties but also deeply feel his absence at this critical juncture. Heartfelt accounts and tributes by the author herself and Ambassador Kadakin’s colleagues in the embassy, Anatoly Kargapolov and Sergey Karmalito as well as the eminent Indologist Professor Eugenia Vanina are both heart-warming as well as heart-wrenching.
Ms Achala Moulik’s book is an extremely valuable contribution to the scholarship available on this very important subject. Her account is both inspiring and also sobering. She has carved it beautifully in the backdrop of the geo-political circumstances that prevailed fifty years ago.
What makes this book even more useful and valuable is that it is eminently readable. It is written in an easy style and has a smooth flow although it carries all the facts, information, dates and figures about the evolution of the bilateral partnership. Ms Moulik has been able to very effectively bring out why India and Russia have always had warm and vibrant relations with each other, have never had any conflict or clash between them and why the trajectory of bilateral ties will continue to move upward.
I strongly recommend this tome to scholars of geo-politics, international relations and strategic affairs as well as to those lay people who are interested in discovering the mystery of the perennial vibrant and deep connect between India and Russia.
Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar is President, Institute of Global Studies; Distinguished Fellow, Ananta Aspen Centre; former Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia; former Secretary/Principal Executive Officer, National Foundation for Communal Harmony, Government of India.