The Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation was a treaty signed between

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in August 1971 that specified mutual strategic cooperation. This was a significant deviation from India's previous position of non-alignment during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

and was a factor in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war. The treaty was caused by increasing

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

i ties with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and played an important role in the 1971

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali ...

. 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 The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

it was replaced by a 20-year Treaty of Indo-Russian Friendship and Cooperation during President Yeltsin's visit to

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

in January 1993.

Indo-Soviet relations

Early relations

India's initial relations with the

after the former's independence were ambivalent and were guided by Nehru's decision to remain non-aligned and his government's active part in the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

. However, in February 1954, the administration of US President

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War I ...

announced the decision to provide arms to

, which was followed a month later by Pakistan joining

SEATO The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...

and later

CENTO The Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), also known as the Baghdad Pact and subsequently known as the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), was a military alliance of the Cold War. It was formed in 24 February 1955 by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Tur ...

. Both agreements gave Pakistan sophisticated military hardware and economic aid. The developing situation alarmed India, which had uncomfortable relations with Pakistan. Since Pakistan also 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 The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath ...

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. 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 The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibet ...

caused the Sino-Pakistani axis to be another impetus for the growing co-operation between India and the Soviet Union. In 1965, Indo-Soviet relations had entered a very important phase that lasted until 1977. According to

Rejaul Karim Laskar Rejaul Karim Laskar is an Indian politician from the state of Assam belonging to the Indian National Congress. He is a Congress ideologue and has written extensively on the policies of the United Progressive Alliance governments. He is also a p ...

, a scholar of Indian foreign policy, 1965 to 1977 was the "golden age" of Indo-Soviet relations.

1971

In the results of the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

in Pakistan in 1970, President

Yahya Khan General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan , (Urdu: ; 4 February 1917 – 10 August 1980); commonly known as Yahya Khan, was a Pakistani military general who served as the third President of Pakistan and Chief Martial Law Administrator following his p ...

was dissatisfied with the victory of the

Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people. The adjective appears in the following proper names: *Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan *Awami Front, wa ...

, the Bengali party that had its power base in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wit ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

). Disagreement broke out between the

leadership and 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 General Tikka Khan ( ur, ٹکا خان; 10 February 1915 – 28 March 2002) was a Pakistan Army general who was the first chief of army staff from 3 March 1972 until retiring on 1 March 1976. Along with Yahya Khan, he is considered a chief a ...

, used gunfire for almost a week to gain control of East Pakistan's capital and largest city

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest ...

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 Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

, 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

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

desired to get involved in the

to engage the

Pakistani military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

and aid the

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...

in separating

from the federation. However, the Pakistani leadership was very well connected, as Yahya Khan had a close personal friendship with American President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

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.Gary Bass, The Blood Telegram (2013), Husain Haqqani, Magnificent Delusions (2013) The

, now an Indian ally, also intervened in the civil war in

on behalf of

After Cold War

References

Bibliography

* . * . * . * Menon, Rajan. "India and Russia." in David Malone et al eds. ''The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy'' (2015) pp 509-521. {{Authority control 1971 in India 1971 in the Soviet Union August 1971 events in Asia August 1971 events in Europe Cold War treaties Bilateral treaties of India Treaties of the Soviet Union Treaties concluded in 1971 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 India–Soviet Union relations