ABSTRACT
India tried to adjust to the post-Soviet world reality. In the changed geo-political scenario following the fall of the Soviet Union, Pakistan appeared to be more important from Moscow’s point of view. A very large part of the export of consumer goods from India was going to the former Soviet Union. India recognizes the prominent position of Russia in the former Soviet space. Moscow is no longer willing to play the former Soviet role of a balancing pole to the West or a rival power centre. Such a role, indeed, proved to be prohibitively costly and ultimately even suicidal for the former Soviet Union. After Soviet disintegration, new Russia followed a predominantly pro-Western and pro-US policy. Unlike the former Soviet Union that needed a ‘special relationship’ with India in its politico-strategic rivalry with both the West and China, Russia did not seem to need India as a strategic ally.
