The Russian Factor in India-U.S. Relations
By Rohan Rajesh
The recent brutal clashes on the China-India border in June, which left 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers dead, have led Western media to expect that India will turn to the US in its hour of need. After the clashes, India banned several Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, citing national security concerns. These actions match the efforts of US President Donald Trump to do the same. While India will certainly strengthen its ties with the United States and regional US allies like Japan and Australia, India will continue to maintain “strategic autonomy” and not enter a treaty alliance mainly for one reason: Russia.
Throughout the Cold War, India shared close ties with the Soviet Union while it had more antagonistic and distant relations it had with the US. India, having just gained independence from the UK, was far more sympathetic to the socialist ideals of the Soviets than to the capitalist ideals of the US and the imperialist ideals of its European allies – after all, India was conquered by a European corporation. When India annexed Portugal’s Indian territories in 1961, the Soviet Union vetoed a US-backed resolution condemning India’s move. During India’s 1971 war with Pakistan – which occurred while the Pakistani military was committing genocide in East Pakistan (today Bangladesh) – the US (an ally of Pakistan) sent the Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal to dissuade India from declaring war on Pakistan. The fleet was closely pursued by a Soviet fleet. Thus, the US was unable to aid Pakistan and prevent its disastrous defeat to India. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the warming of India-US relations, Russia continued to shield on the global stage far more consistently than the US. When India conducted nuclear tests in 1998, Russia refused to support US sanctions placed on India. India, in turn, refused to condemn the Soviet Union’s brutal crackdown on the protests in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. It also did not support a UN resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory. The friendship was most recently highlighted by India’s adamant refusal to abandon its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system despite the threat of US sanctions. India also pledged a $1 billion line of credit to invest in Russia’s resource-rich Far East.
Overall, India views Russia as a more reliable partner because Russia does not hinge its relationship with India on India’s internal politics. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers (and some Republican ones) widely criticized the Indian government’s imposing an internet ban and jailing of Kashmiri political leaders. They also were uncomfortable with the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act passed by India’s Parliament. While much attention has been focused on the “bromance” between President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even that relationship has faced tensions over issues like trade, immigration, and the war in Afghanistan.
India is not likely to break its long, deep relationship with the Russians despite both India and the US facing a rising, authoritarian China. Instead, India will continue to pursue its policy of strategic autonomy between the US and Russia while using the resources of both countries to push back against a revisionist China. Thus, if the US truly believes that India is an important counterweight to Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific, it is going to have to put up with close Indo-Russian relations. Further, the US should temper its criticism over India’s trade policy and the recent restrictions placed on the immigration of Indian citizens. Finally, the US should also limit its criticism of India’s “internal” human rights affairs and trust in the Indian democratic process to sort these issues out eventually. After all, the US was by no means the embodiment of human rights when it was 73 years old, and the US has been and continues to be bedfellows with far more brutal and authoritarian governments for the sake of realpolitik.