Thursday 3 August 2017

Defence deal may repair India-Russia ties


August 03, 2017 10:36 IST

The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).

Defence Ministers Arun Jaitley and General Sergey Shoigu jointly chaired the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-governmental Commission on Military-technical Cooperation on June 21-23, 2017, in Moscow.

The two sides agreed on a roadmap and signed a protocol to take defence cooperation to a higher level through the joint development of future weapons systems and military equipment, enhanced joint training and the exchange of visits.

According to news reports, India will acquire arms and equipment worth $10.5 billion (Rs 67,604 crore/Rs 676.04 billion) from Russia including five S-400 Triumf advanced air defence missile systems, four Grigorivich-class frigates and 200 Kamov-226T light helicopters.

Russia will also lease its second nuclear-powered submarine to India after INS Chakra. Jaitley invited Russian companies to participate in defence manufacture in India as part of the government's 'Make in India' policy.

The meeting helped to arrest the recent drift in the relationship that has been described as a 'special and privileged' strategic partnership since 2000.

India's new policy to diversify its sources of defence procurement, especially its reliance on Western weapons platforms, despite their greater cost, had not been received well in Russia and the relationship had tended to deteriorate into a transactional rather than a strategic one.

The relationship with Russia goes back to the time India got its Independence.

The erstwhile Soviet Union and its successor State Russia have stood by India on Jammu and Kashmir over several difficult decades. One-sided UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu-Kashmir were vetoed by the Russians many times.

The Indo-Soviet treaty of 'peace, friendship and cooperation', signed before the 1971 War with Pakistan, stood India in good stead. Though the agreement was not a military alliance, India was perceived by the United States and its Western allies to have joined the Soviet camp.

The 1971 agreement signalled the de facto end of non-alignment, which John Foster Dulles, the US secretary of state (1953 to 1959), had called 'immoral'.

As part of its foreign policy, India also did not lag behind in supporting Soviet or Russian positions. Now, an era of 'Cold Peace' appears to have dawned over Eastern Europe and Putin's Russia has begun to gradually drift towards China and its ally Pakistan.

India's acquisition of weapons and defence equipment from Russia has been the most enduring part of the India-Russia strategic partnership.......Read rest of article: HERE

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