Since becoming independent in 1947, India and the Soviet Union, and now Russia, have cooperated in many fields and have excellent economic and military relations.
The two nations are continuing their cooperation in the area of spaceflight.
Although earlier plans for cooperation between the countries were put on ice by India after the failure of the Russian Fobos probe at Mars in 2011, the trend still seemed to be to cooperate.
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A sign of such cooperation was the opening of a department of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Moscow.
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The job of this office was to coordinate relations with Russian space agencies and Russian companies that produce equipment India intended to purchase for its own space program.
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Also, in 2019, Russian Vice Premier Yuriy Borisov announced that India was buying rocket engines from Russia.
The intensification of Russian-Indian cooperation in space exploration may have been related to preparation for the flight of the first Indian manned spacecraft Gaganyaan (“celestial ship”), originally planned for 2022.
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In 2021 the Indian Ministry of External Affairs reported that Indian Premier Modi thanked Vladimir Putin for Russia’s assistance to the Gaganyaan program in the corse of one of their conversations.
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The Gaganyaan mission involved sending three astronauts into space on an Indian spacecraft.
This flight would be preceded by two unmanned test flights.
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Then head of ROSKOSMOS Dmitriy Rogozin at one point stated that India had requested Russia’s assistance in the Gaganyaan program.
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Seemingly in response to this request, a $3 billion contract was signed between the ISRO and Russia’s GLAVKOSMOS for the first part of the training of four Indian astronauts at Star City near Moscow on June 1, 2019.
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The second part of their training was to be done in India, but still with some Russian input.
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While the training run by the Russians began in 2020, it had to be done remotely because of the pandemic.
The training was at least originally expected to last one and a half to two years.
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In March, 2021, the Indian astronauts completed their training in Russia.
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Earlier, Rogozin had proposed sending an Indian astronaut on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS)  in order to get further training tor the Gaganyaan mission - a further indication of Russia’s desire to cooperate with India in space.

Warning: these questons and answers are not all representative of the way questions will be asked and answered in the pilot, because some questions are compound and some answers do not include citations.

Q: What event temporarily impeded Indian-Russian cooperation in space flight?
A: The failure of the Russian Fobos mission to Mars in 2011 caused a halt in India working with Russia.

Q: Where did the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) open its Russian office?
A: in Moscow.

Q: What was the purpose of the office?
A: to coordinate relations with Russian government agencies and Russian companies involved in space exploration.

Q: In 2019, India made an important purchase of what kind of Russian equipment?
A: India bought rocket engines from Russia.

Q: In 2019 India signed a contract with Russia. This contract concerned what?
A: The training of four Indian astronauts for the Gaganyaan mission.

Q: The main Indian space mission that the contract involved is known under what name?
A: Gaganyaan, meaning “celestial ship”.

Q: Where was Russia planning to train the Indian astronauts?
A: At Star City, near Moscow, and also later, when they had returned to India

Q: What, if any, problems arose at the start of the astronauts’ training?
A: The Covid pandemic caused  some of the training to be done remotely.

Q: How long was the Indian astronauts’ training expected to last?
A: It was planned for one and a half to two years.

Q: How was Russia involved in other aspects of the ISRO’s activities?
A: Rogozin offered to ferry an Indian astronaut to the ISS for further training in space.

Q: Did India publicly acknowledge Russia’s assistance?
A: How? - Indian Premier Modi thanked Vladimir Putin during an official conversation.