India & Russia - Friends through thick and thin.
“Even a child in India if asked to say who is India’s best friend will reply it is Russia because Russia has been with India in times of crisis,” - Indian PM Narendra Modi
Traditionally, the Indo-Russian strategic partnership has been built on five major components: politics, defence, civil nuclear energy, anti-terrorism co-operation and space. Here are a few points that show the solidarity between India and Russia.
•Russia currently is one of only two countries in the world (the other being Japan) that has a mechanism for annual ministerial-level defense reviews with India.
•In 1971 Bangladesh war USSR(Russia before 1991) had signed the treaty which backed India unconditional Military support over western aggression.
•The Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation was a treaty signed between India and the Soviet Union in August 1971 that specified mutual strategic cooperation. The treaty was a significant deviation from India's previous position of non-alignment in the Cold War and in the prelude to the Bangladesh war, it was a key development in a situation of increasing Sino-American ties and American pressure. The treaty was later adopted to the Indo-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship and cooperation in 1972.
•India is the second largest market for the Russian defense industry. In 2004, more than 70% of the Indian Military's hardware came from Russia, making Russia the chief supplier of defense equipment. Below shown is the Sukhoi Su-30MKI jointly built by Russia and India,
•About 20 Russian Institutions, including leading universities and schools, regularly teach Hindi to 1500 Russian students. Apart from Hindi, languages such as Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Urdu, Sanskrit and Pali are taught in Russian Institutions.
•The Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) is one of the largest and most comprehensive governmental mechanisms that India has had with any country internationally. Below shown is IRIGC conference, 2012.
•India is the largest arms buyer in the world and over 68% of its defense equipment are imported from Russia.
•India and Russia have several major joint military programs including: BrahMos cruise missile program, 5th generation fighter jet program, Sukhoi Su-30MKI program, Ilyushin/HAL Tactical Transport Aircraft.
•More than 10 nuclear reactors are being build by Indians with the help of Russia. Currently 2 are working and others are proposed and will be completed in upcoming years. Shown below is the Construction of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in 2009,
•Reverse-trade or at least opposite to what conventional perception is :) The 2nd top exported item from India to Russia is Electronic components. And, top most imported item from Russia is gems, precious metals, coins worth $1.1 billion.
•India's 2nd Lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 is a joint lunar exploration mission proposed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA). Below shown is GLONASS on which India and Russia have both signed agreements for the cooperation and use.
•The first Russian translation of the Bhagavad Gita was published in 1788 by decree on the orders of Catherine the Great.
•Bollywood has many fans in Russia. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev once commented "Russia and India are the only countries where satellite channels broadcast Indian movies 24/7."
•According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 45% of Russians view India positively, with only 9% expressing a negative view.
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