India and the Soviet Union

Abstract

Indo-Soviet relations have formed a complex pattern in recent years: changing trends in foreign policy, trade, and aid; the fate of the Communist party of India (CPI); the death of Nehru and the removal of Khrushchev; Kosygin's mediation at Tashkent and Soviet military aid to Pakistan; the Chinese bomb and nonproliferation—these are only a few of the elements in the pattern. The two triangles India-China-Soviet Union and India-Pakistan-Soviet Union are of crucial importance in the game of international diplomacy, in which the Soviet Union has scored several points while India was groping for a new orientation after the period of the old cold war had come to an end and nonalignment had lost much of its meaning. India's political system has shown a remarkable stability, and it has been actively supported by the Soviet Union, although Soviet analysts and Indian Communists find it difficult to justify this support in Marxist terms. The reality of world affairs has often overruled ideological considerations, but they must be taken into account, nevertheless, particularly in Indo-Soviet relations which go beyond the diplomatic sphere and extend to internal affairs, such as the development of the public sector of India's economy and joint production-planning for a diversification of exports and imports. There are compelling reasons for the further co-operation of the two countries in spite of occasional misgivings.