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{{Short description|1971 treaty between India and the USSR}}
{{Infobox bilateral relations|India–Soviet Union|India|USSR|map=Location_of_USSR_and_India.svg}}
{{Wikisource}}

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. This was a significant deviation from India's previous position of [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-alignment]] during the [[Cold War]]<ref name=Hanhimaki>{{Harvnb|Hanhimaki|2004|p=165}}</ref> and was a factor in the [[1971 Indo-Pakistani war]].

The treaty was caused by increasing [[Pakistan]]i ties with [[China]] and the [[United States]]<ref name=Cashman>{{Harvnb|Cashman|Robinson|2007|p=236}}</ref><ref name=Rao>{{Harvnb|Rao|1973|p=793}}</ref> and played an important role in the 1971 [[Bangladesh Liberation War]].<ref name=Shah>{{cite web|author=Shah, SAA |publisher=Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad |url=http://www.issi.org.pk/journal/2001_files/no_4/article/4a.htm |title=Russo-India Military-technical Cooperation |access-date=2007-12-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314041501/http://www.issi.org.pk/journal/2001_files/no_4/article/4a.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2007 }}</ref> The duration of the treaty was of 20 years and it was renewed for another 20 years on 8 August 1991. Following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] it was replaced by a 20-year Treaty of Indo-Russian Friendship and Cooperation during [[President Yeltsin|President Yeltsin's]] visit to [[New Delhi]] in January 1993.

==Indo-Soviet relations==

===Early relations===
India's initial relations with the [[Soviet Union]] after the former's independence were ambivalent and were guided by Nehru's decision to remain [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-aligned]] and his government's active part in the [[Commonwealth of Nations]]. However, in February 1954, the administration of US President [[Dwight Eisenhower]] announced the decision to provide arms to [[Pakistan]], which was followed a month later by Pakistan joining [[SEATO]] and later [[CENTO]]. Both agreements gave Pakistan sophisticated military hardware and economic aid.<ref name=Shah/>

The developing situation alarmed India, which had uncomfortable relations with Pakistan. Since Pakistan also [[Wakhan Corridor|was near the Soviet Union]], it also provided Moscow with the necessity and the opportunity to develop its relations with India, whose status as a leader of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] would also allow the Soviets to bolster their policy in the Third World.

India and the Soviet Union, therefore, pursued similar policies based on common security threat born from the American interests in Pakistan. It was in that context that India and Soviet Union exchanged military attachés.<ref name=Shah/>

Although Indo-Soviet co-operation occurred, Soviet military aid to India was greatly increased during the context of deteriorating Sino-Soviet and Sino-Indian relations. The 1962 [[Sino-Indian War]] caused the Sino-Pakistani axis to be another impetus for the growing co-operation between India and the Soviet Union.<ref name=Shah/>

In 1965, Indo-Soviet relations had entered a very important phase that lasted until 1977. According to [[Rejaul Karim Laskar]], a scholar of [[Indian foreign policy]], 1965 to 1977 was the "golden age" of Indo-Soviet relations.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Laskar|first1=Rejaul Karim|title=India's Foreign Policy: An Introduction|date=2013|publisher=Paragon International Publishers|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-93-83154-06-7|page=173}}</ref>

===1971===
In the results of the [[1970 Pakistani general election|general elections]] in Pakistan in 1970, President [[Yahya Khan]] was dissatisfied with the victory of the [[Awami League]], the Bengali party that had its power base in [[East Pakistan]] (now [[Bangladesh]]). Disagreement broke out between the [[Awami League]] leadership and [[Pakistan Peoples Party|Peoples Party]] leadership, which was the second largest party in the elections after the Awami League. The Pakistani military, under the orders of general [[Tikka Khan]], used gunfire for almost a week to gain control of East Pakistan's capital and largest city [[Dhaka]]. [[Tikka Khan]] also targeted the Hindu population in East Pakistan. This led to a mass exodus of mostly Hindu Bengalis, who fled to India.

The Indian government, under the leadership of [[Indira Gandhi]], saw itself confronted with a major humanitarian catastrophe, as eight to ten million Bengalis fled from East Pakistan to overcrowded and underfunded refugee camps in India. Gandhi decided in April that a war was needed to stop the exodus and force millions of Bengali refugees return to their homes. The [[Government of India|Indian government]] desired to get involved in the [[Bangladesh Liberation War]] to engage the [[Pakistan Armed Forces|Pakistani military]] and aid the [[Mukti Bahini]] in separating [[East Pakistan]] from the federation.

However, the Pakistani leadership was very well connected, as Yahya Khan had a close personal friendship with American President [[Richard Nixon]] and harboured excellent diplomatic relations with Mao's China. Under these circumstances, Gandhi was very nervous to send an army to East Pakistan.

To her relief, the Soviet leadership was open to negotiations. The ensuing Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, signed in August 1971, was very loose, but sent a strong signal to Washington and Beijing. The treaty was a strong additional incentive for Nixon and Mao to pursue their planned meeting, which took place in February 1972. Eventually, since Nixon needed Brezhnev to end the Vietnam War, frictions between both superpowers were streamlined, which paved the way for the immensely important summit that was convened in Moscow in May 1972.<ref>Gary Bass, The Blood Telegram (2013), Husain Haqqani, Magnificent Delusions (2013)</ref> The [[Soviet Union]], now an Indian ally, also intervened in the civil war in [[Pakistan]] on behalf of [[India]].

==After Cold War==
{{main|Indo-Russian relations}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{Main|India–Russia relations#Further reading}}
* {{Citation
|surname1 = Cashman
|given1 = G
|surname2 = Robinson
|given2 = L.C
|year=2007
|title=An Introduction to the Causes of War: Patterns of Interstate Conflict from World War I to Iraq
|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield
|isbn=978-0-7425-5510-5
}}.
* {{Citation
|surname1=Hanhimaki
|given1=Jussi M.
|year=2004
|title=The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy
|url=https://archive.org/details/flawedarchitecth00hanh
|publisher=Oxford University Press US
|isbn=0-19-517221-3
|url-access=registration
}}.
* {{Citation
|surname1 = Rao
|given1 = RVR Chandrashekhar
|year=1973
|title=Indo-Soviet Economic Relations: Asian Survey, Vol. 13, No. 8. (Aug., 1973), pp. 793-801
|journal = Asian Survey
|publisher=University of California Press
|doi = 10.2307/2642868
|jstor = 2642868
|issn = 0004-4687
}}.

* Menon, Rajan. "India and Russia." in David Malone et al eds. ''The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy'' (2015) pp 509-521.

{{1971 Indo-Pak War}}
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[[Category:1971 in India]]
[[Category:1971 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:August 1971 events in Asia]]
[[Category:August 1971 events in Europe]]
[[Category:Cold War treaties]]
[[Category:Bilateral treaties of India]]
[[Category:Treaties of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Treaties concluded in 1971]]
[[Category:Indo-Pakistani War of 1971]]
[[Category:India–Soviet Union relations]]

Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation - Revision history

Bot at 08:54, 25 May 2022