Contending with the "Bear-ish" Arms Market: US-Indian Strategic Cooperation and Russia

During the Cold Wa r years, Ind ia proved to be a valuable asset to the Soviet Union as regards two of its major strategic concerns, China and the United States. In the first case, equipped mostly with Soviet-manufactured conventional weapons but

238 lacking any other credible deterrence, India played a pivotal countervailing role fo r

the USSR on China's southern flank. Bolstering India militarily and otherwise was of paramount importance to the Soviet Union, which had to deploy up to one-third of its armed forces close to its border with China.