Editing Indira Gandhi (section)

=== Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries ===
The relationship between India and the Soviet Union deepened during Gandhi's rule. The main reason was the perceived bias of the United States and [[China]], rivals of the USSR, towards Pakistan. The support of the Soviets with arms supplies and the casting of a veto at the United Nations helped in winning and consolidating the victory over Pakistan in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war. Before the war, Gandhi signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviets. They were unhappy with the 1974 nuclear test conducted by India but did not support further action because of the ensuing Cold War with the United States. Gandhi was unhappy with the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], but once again calculations involving relations with Pakistan and China kept her from criticising the Soviet Union harshly. The Soviets became the main arms supplier during the Gandhi years by offering cheap credit and transactions in rupees rather than in dollars. The easy trade deals also applied to non-military goods. Under Gandhi, by the early 1980s, the Soviets had become India's largest trading partner.<ref name="British Academic Press">{{cite book|editor1-last=Light|editor1-first=Margot |last=Duncan|first=Peter J.S. |title=Troubled friendships: Moscow's Third World ventures, Chapter II, Soviet-Indian Model|date=1993|publisher=British Academic Press|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=978-1-85043-649-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7MA1F1TD08C&pg=PA29}}</ref>

==== Soviet intelligence in India ====
Soviet intelligence was involved in India during Indira Gandhi's administration, sometimes at Gandhi's expense. In the prelude to [[Operation Blue Star]], by 1981, the Soviets had launched ''Operation Kontakt'', which was based on a forged document purporting to contain details of the weapons and money provided by the ISI to Sikh militants who wanted to create an independent country.<ref name="Andrew20062">{{cite book |author=Christopher Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Msx8swEACAAJ |title=The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World: Newly Revealed Secrets from the Mitrokhin Archive |date=10 October 2006 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00313-6 |page=152 |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628233718/https://books.google.com/books?id=Msx8swEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In November 1982, [[Yuri Andropov]], the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary]] of the Communist Party and leader of the Soviet Union, approved a proposal to fabricate Pakistani intelligence documents detailing ISI plans to foment religious disturbances in Punjab and promote the creation of [[Khalistan]] as an independent Sikh state.<ref name="Andrew2014p2782">{{cite book |author=Christopher Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ9uAAAAQBAJ&pg=PR278 |title=The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB in the World |date=2 January 2014 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-0-14-197798-0 |pages=278– |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628233718/https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ9uAAAAQBAJ&pg=PR278 |url-status=live }}</ref> Indira Gandhi's decision to move troops into the Punjab was based on her taking seriously the information provided by the Soviets regarding secret CIA support for the Sikhs.<ref name="Andrew2014p2792">{{cite book |author=Christopher Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ9uAAAAQBAJ&pg=PR278 |title=The Mitrokhin Archive II: The KGB in the World |date=2 January 2014 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-0-14-197798-0 |pages=279– |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628233718/https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ9uAAAAQBAJ&pg=PR278 |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to the [[Mitrokhin Archive]], the Soviets used a new recruit in the New Delhi residency named "Agent S" who was close to Indira Gandhi as a major channel for providing her disinformation.<ref name="Andrew20062"/> Agent S provided Indira Gandhi with false documents purporting to show Pakistani involvement in the Khalistan conspiracy.<ref name="Andrew20062" /> The [[KGB]] became confident that it could continue to deceive Indira Gandhi indefinitely with fabricated reports of CIA and Pakistani conspiracies against her.<ref name="Andrew2014p2782"/> The Soviets persuaded [[Rajiv Gandhi]] during a visit to [[Moscow]] in 1983 that the CIA was engaged in subversion in the Punjab.<ref name="Andrew2014p2782" /> When Rajiv Gandhi returned to India, he declared this to be true.<ref name="Andrew2014p2782" /> The KGB was responsible for Indira Gandhi exaggerating the threats posed by both the CIA and Pakistan.<ref name="Andrew2014p2792"/> This KGB role in facilitating Operation Bluestar was acknowledged by [[Subramanian Swamy]] who stated in 1992 "The 1984 Operation Bluestar became necessary because of the vast disinformation against Sant [[Bhindranwale]] by the KGB, and repeated inside Parliament by the Congress Party of India."<ref name="Swamy1992">{{cite book |author=Subramanian Swamy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQBIAAAAMAAJ |title=Building a New India: An Agenda for National Renaissance |publisher=UBS Publishers' Distributors |year=1992 |isbn=978-81-85674-21-6 |page=18 |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330072222/https://books.google.com/books?id=wQBIAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

A report following the Mitrokhin archive also caused some historiographical controversy about Indira Gandhi.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bedi |first=Rahul |title=Book alleges KGB cash trail to India |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/book-alleges-kgb-cash-trail-to-india-1.494244 |access-date=2022-04-23 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |archive-date=23 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423092139/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/book-alleges-kgb-cash-trail-to-india-1.494244 |url-status=live }}</ref> In India, a senior leader of the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]], [[L. K. Advani]], requested of the Government a white paper on the role of foreign intelligence agencies and a judicial enquiry on the allegations.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060216101512/http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/03/stories/2005100309241200.htm "Advani seeks white paper on KGB charges"], ''The Hindu'', 3 October 2005.</ref> The spokesperson of the Indian Congress party referred to the book as "pure [[sensationalism]] not even remotely based on facts or records" and pointed out that the book is not based on official records from the Soviet Union. L.K Advani raised his voice because the book refers to ex-prime minister Indira Gandhi's (Codenamed VANO) relations with the KGB.<ref>{{cite web |title=रूस के जासूस ने किया बड़ा खुलासा ! इन्दिरा गाँधी थी रसिया की इंटेलिजेंस एजेंसी की जासूस ? – RAJNITI TAK NEWS |url=https://rajnititak.in/2021/2020/rajniti-tak-news-rajnititak-news-russian-agency-revealed-about-indra-gandhi/rajnititaknews |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123170450/https://rajnititak.in/2021/2020/rajniti-tak-news-rajnititak-news-russian-agency-revealed-about-indra-gandhi/rajnititaknews |archive-date=2021-01-23 |website=rajnititak.in}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Allegations in Mitrokhin Archives vague: Congress. |url=http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/18kgb.htm |access-date=21 June 2015 |website=Rediff News |archive-date=24 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524012739/http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/18kgb.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The KGB was alleged to be directly link to Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi (code-named Vano). "Suitcases full of banknotes were said to be routinely taken to the Prime Minister's house. Former Syndicate member [[S. K. Patil]] is reported to have said that Mrs. Gandhi did not even return the suitcases".<ref>Andrew & Mitrokhin, ''The Mitrokhin Archive II- The KGB and the World, The Special Relationship With India: Part I'', p. 311-312.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pubby |first=Manu |title=USSR supplied clandestine cash to Congress party: CIA |work=The Economic Times |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/ussr-supplied-clandestine-cash-to-congress-party-cia/articleshow/56787127.cms |access-date=2021-07-28 |archive-date=28 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728044541/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/ussr-supplied-clandestine-cash-to-congress-party-cia/articleshow/56787127.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> An extensive footprint in the Indian media was also described- "According to KGB files, by 1973 it had ten Indian newspapers on its payroll (which cannot be identified for legal reasons) as well as a press agency under its control. During 1972 the KGB claimed to have planted 3,789 articles in Indian newspapers–probably more than in any other country in the non-Communist world."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lall |first=Rashmee R. |date=2005 |title='KGB moles infiltrated Indira's PMO' |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/kgb-moles-infiltrated-indiras-pmo/articleshow/1234437.cms |access-date=2021-07-28 |website=The Times of India |language=en |archive-date=28 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728044541/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/kgb-moles-infiltrated-indiras-pmo/articleshow/1234437.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> According to its files, the number fell to 2,760 in 1973 but rose to 4,486 in 1974 and 5,510 in 1975. Mitrokhin estimated that in some major NATO countries, "despite [[Active measures|active-measures]] campaigns, the KGB was able to plant a little more than 1 per cent of the articles which it placed in the Indian press."<ref>Andrew & Mitrokhin, ''The Mitrokhin Archive II- The KGB and the World, The Special Relationship With India: Part I'', p. 323.</ref>