Russia is one of India’s largest arms suppliers; around 23 per cent of Russian arms exports between 2016 and 2020 went to the South Asian country
S-400 missile system. Image courtesy News18 Hindi
Russia on Thursday launched a special operation on Ukraine, which saw simultaneous attacks coming from south, east and north, by land and by air.
Missiles and bombs rained from the sky, tanks rolled across the border, and explosions were seen across the country after Vladimir Putin gave the order to attack.
The attacks quickly drew condemnation from world leaders with President Joe Biden saying that the world would hold Russia accountable.
The attacks will also bring in more sanctions for Russia, with the European Union Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen saying that the sanctions would be its ‘harshest’ ever.
These sanctions, while targeted to hurt Russia, is bound to have effects on other nations too, including India, especially in the defence sector.
Let’s see what relations India shares with Russia, its different defence deals and the effect that these sanctions could play on these pacts.
Indo-Russia defence partnership
Russia is one of India’s largest arms suppliers. Around 23 per cent of Russian arms exports between 2016 and 2020 went to the South Asian country, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
In fact, a Congressional Research Service {CRS} report in October 2021 said that while there had had been a considerable drop in India’s dependence on arms and equipment from Russia, the Indian military could not operate effectively without Russian-supplied equipment.
The Indian Army’s main battle tank force is composed predominantly of Russian T-72M1 (66 per cent) and T-90S (30 per cent).
The Indian Navy’s sole operational aircraft carrier is a refurbished Soviet-era ship, and its entire complement of fighter and ground attack aircraft are Russian-made or produced in India on licence.
Additionally, four of the Navy’s 10 guided-missile destroyers are Russian Kashin class, and six of its 17 frigates are Russian Talwar class. The Navy’s sole nuclear-powered submarine is on lease from Russia, and eight of the service’s 14 other submarines are Russian-origin Kilo class.
Deals that could suffer owing to sanctions
The Wire in a report outlined how India’s latest defence deals with Russia would be affected owing to the sanctions.
The Wire reported that deals such as the S-400 Triumf missile systems, the Akula nuclear-powered submarine and that of 20,000 Kalashnikov AK-203 7.62x39mm assault rifles could be adversely affected owing to the Western sanctions against Russia.
Also, the sanctions could jeopardise India’s $375 million BrahMos cruise missile export order to the Philippines.
This is because BrahMos Aerospace is an Indo-Russian joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia.
India already faces possible sanctions
It is important to note that India faces the risk of being sanctioned for its acquisition of the S-400 missile system from Russia under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act {CAATSA}.
CAATSA had come into force in 2017 and seeks to deter countries that engage with Russia, especially in the realm of defence purchases, through punitive measures.
Under the Act, sanctions have been imposed on Turkey — a NATO ally — for its acquisition of the S-400 system from Russia.
What Russia had to say?
On Wednesday, Russia said that while sanctions imposed by the West would lead to fear and mistrust, Moscow was looking forward to go ahead with the implementation of its ‘big defence plans’ with India, as per a Times of India report.
“Russia and India take each other’s security interests and concerns very seriously. We have big plans in defence and we hope to implement all of these,” Russian charge d’affaires Roman Babushkin was quoted as saying.
He said that sanctions had become a foreign policy tool for the US.
He also said India’s position on the Ukraine crisis was “independent and balanced”.
“With India, we have very strong, long and trusted cooperation (in defence). Russia is the only country which is sharing sophisticated technologies with India and defence cooperation between us is a strong factor for international peace and stability,” Babushkin told reporters.
With inputs from agencies
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