During the Cold-War years, Europe and India engaged with the Soviet Union at very different levels. On many occasions they found themselves supporting the opposite side. Western Europe was part of the American led western alliance. India, however, had very close strategic and economic ties with the USSR, which were institutionalised through the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation. Despite the collapse of the USSR and the termination of special bilateral trade relations in the 1990s, India and Russia have maintained excellent political relations. These ties have been institutionalised through strategic partnership signed in
2000 and upgraded to ‘special and privileged strategic partnership’ in 2010.
