Abstract

India and Russia (former Soviet Union) are traditional allies. During cold war, both have developed close strategic ties encompassing areas as diverse as defence, technology, culture and energy. This suited to India’s non-aligned policy, which was not appreciated by the western block led by the US. The disintegration of Soviet Union and end of cold war in 1991, the emergence of the US as the sole superpower and globalization provided a new strategic matrix before the Indian foreign policy. In the post-cold war era, though India has developed close strategic ties with the US, India has also tried to maintain balanced relations with Russia. This was the prime objective of India’s postcold war principle of ‘Strategic Autonomy. But the growing rift between the US and Russia in last decade has made India’s balancing game a difficult task. Russia too has become concerned with India’s strategic proximity. This paper seeks to analyze Indo-Russian relations and India’s balancing game in the changing strategic environment.

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