INDO-RUSSIAN RELATIONSHIP

Indo-Russian relationship has stood the test of time. Russia has always stood by India in the International forums. Even the collapse of the USSR has not dented the relationship in anyway. Russia had even offered to hand over the technical know-how of the cryogenic engine to India. Unfortunately succumbing to the US pressure Russia later withdrew from its earlier stand.

The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed many agreements when Putin visited India in early March this year. They are expected to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries further.

At a time when the nuclear energy is expected to meet the ever increasing energy needs in India Russia has promised to build a nuclear reactor at Haripur in West Bengal and two at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu within the next ten years. The Russians has reportedly told India that they could build 10 to 12 nuclear reactors in India in no time. This assurance has helped India to heave a sigh of relief.

Sergei Ivanov, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister said that his country had promised India that it would build “16 nuclear energy units” in India. Both the countries have also agreed to cooperate more in the exploration of gas and oil as well. It could lead to an over all surge in the bilateral trade between the counties.

The defense deals India signed with the US, Israel and other counties had made Russia anxious. Manmohan Singh sought to ally the Russian anxiety by saying that they “had finalized several important and long-pending defense cooperation projects”. Putin on his part assured India that it would keep the interests of India in mind and would not have any defense deals with Pakistan.

Not to be outdone by other countries especially the US, Russian have expressed their readiness to produce its fifth generation fighter as a joint venture with India. India is reported to have conveyed its readiness to Russia. If both the countries are able to work out the details it would be the second joint venture by India and Russia after the BrahMos cruise missile.

Though there is no denying the fact that this news is heartening to India, India should not hasten to sign agreements with Russia. Unavailability of spare parts has always caused much heartburning in India. We must before signing any agreements get an assurance from Russia as to the availability of the spares. This is important in the context of the Russian ambassador’s own admission that even Russia has problems getting spares for its own use. Many of the factories that make the spare parts are located in former Soviet Republics.

India and Russia have also settled the disputes about the cost of the submarine Admiral Gorshkov. It was in 2004 that India decided to buy the submarine from Russia. The agreed price was $974 million. However, as Russia took time to restructure it according to the needs of India the price also kept soaring. Now both the countries have arrived at a price of $2.3billion

Let us hope that the time-tested relationship between the countries will become stronger in the coming days.