HISTORICAL BASIS OF RUSSIA (SOVIET UNION)-SOUTH ASIA REALIGNMENT

The Soviet took keen interest in the South Asian sub-continent much before from the middle of the 20th century when Czarist Russia occupied the entire landmass presently known as central Asia and was in search of further expansion southwards. At the time British were the formidable force in the Indian subcontinent and they had strengthened their rule in the part of the world (Ahmar 1989). At the juncture, English got concerned about the threat being posed by czarist Russia to their empire in the sub-continent, and prompted them to pay attention towards it. In order to torpedo the czarist ambition towards South Asia, they decided to intervene in Afghanistan to make it the buffer between the two hostile powers of the time (Chandra 2004). This paper tries to trace the contours of the historical posturing of Soviet Union towards significant South Asian region of the world and its contemporary geopolitical ramifications.