‘When friends call, our hearts light up’: Amid Cold War, Mikhail Gorbachev’s horic visits to India

Former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who brought the Cold War to an end but was unable to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 91.
Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, relentlessly pushed for stronger Soviet-India ties. During his tenure, he visited India twice — first in 1986, and then in 1988.
We take a look at the former Soviet President’s India visits:
1986
Gorbachev first visited India along with an elaborate 110-member delegation in 1986, when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Miner. His four-day visit came at a time when India was dealing with massive security concerns along its borders with both China and Pakan.
At the time, Gandhi and Gorbachev had banded together to place pressure on the US over nuclear arms issues. For India, the visit was particularly significant as it attempted to counter Pakan’s growing closeness with the US.

Upon their arrival on November 26, Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, were said to have received what was widely described as one of the grandest and best-planned welcomes given to a foreign dignitary in decades. Thousands of people had gathered at the military air base in New Delhi. During the first round of talks between the two leaders in New Delhi that day, Gandhi had said that he believed the visit would mark a “turning point in the further strengthening of Indo-Soviet relations.”
“When friends call, our hearts light up. We are delighted to have you among us,” Rajiv Gandhi had said at a press conference at the time, according to The New York Times.
Gorbachev’s visit to India was his first official trip to an Asian country, according to a report The Washington Post. While no new India-Soviet security accords were signed during the visit, both leaders released the ‘Delhi Declaration’, in which they called for a ban on nuclear testing, all weapons in outer space and chemical weapons.
Indian officials said that they were able to address the security threat from China and Pakan, The New York Times had reported. Gorbachev did not comment directly on the Pakan issue, instead stating that Moscow wanted to cooperate with Islamabad to ease tensions.
1988
Two years later, Gorbachev arrived in India once again for a three-day visit to reaffirm close relations between the two countries. This time around, the visit was deliberately more low-key.
Some Indians were questioning whether Moscow had cooled towards New Delhi — a claim that Gorbachev had called “totally groundless”, The New York Times reported.
With Gorbachev attempting to improve ties with the US, many Indians were left wondering where the country would fit in his plans. He was widely accused, at the time, of abandoning developing nations.
During his visit, Gorbachev was awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. He also closed the Soviet cultural festival hosted India in his honour.