Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist October 2019 | Page 21

India and Russia
Energy Cooperation
Dr. Junuguru Srinivas*
Introduction
In 2017, India and Russia celebrated the
70th anniversary of India and Russia diplomatic
relations. Both the country’s relations have
always been tested by various domestic and
international aff airs. The most important area of
Indo-Soviet relations is economic cooperation
despite the 1971’s ‘Indo-Soviet treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation’ considered being
the cornerstone of both the countries bilateral
relations. At one point of time, USSR became
the largest trading partner of India during
the 1980s. However, after the disintegration
of the Soviet Union in 1991, the relations
between the two countries have been gone in
several ups and downs. The important reason
being both countries introduced economic
reforms. Since then both Russia’s and India’s
economy has been changed from a centrally
planned economy to a market economy.
Today, both India and Russia are major global
powers. Both India and Russia have become
major geopolitical actors in contemporary
international relations. However, compared to
other major powers bilateral trade relations,
India and Russia is very dismal. In fact, India
accounts only 1.2 per cent in Russia’s overall
trade and Russia accounts for only 1 percent
in India’s overall annual trade. So, to boost
the bilateral trade, India and Russia have a set
a target to raise US$ 30 billion by 2025. For
that, both countries have to create alternative
areas where they can cooperate more. The paper
emphasized more upon energy cooperation.
Historical Background
India and Russia were ancient civilizations.
Both the countries a relation goes back to
history as Afanasy Nikitin was the fi rst person
to fi nd Sea route to India before Vasco da Gama.
Since then the relations between India and
Russia have been evolved. Russian revolution
inspired many of Indian freedom fi ghters. In
fact, USSR was the fi rst country to recognize
India as an independent country before even
India’s independence. But after that, there
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 10 • October 2019, Noida • 21