India Russia Relations

[sorcerer]

Russia and India may establish a joint university

Russia has presented India with a proposal for the establishment of a joint university. TASS learned this on Friday from Sergei Shakhray, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian Historical Society (RHS), Vice Rector of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU). A day earlier, Mr. Shakhray participated in a meeting of Russian and Indian parliamentarians led by the State Duma Chairman Sergei Naryshkin and Speaker of the Lok Sabha (Lower House) of the Indian Parliament Sumitra Mahajan.

"We have proposed three possible directions of work – the creation of a branch of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University in India, building a joint-university with the University of Delhi and the formation of Russian Language Centers for those who are planning to study in Russia," he said.

According to him, this idea was voiced also in the presence of the Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari, "who expressed great interest in this subject". "We are prepared to do our part in this direction, and prepare the appropriate agreement," explained Mr. Shakhray.

Mr. Shakhray told TASS that he sees promising prospects for joint work in "three main educational fields – medicine, information technology, and philology".

In 2014, a foundation agreement was signed to establish a joint Russian-Chinese International University by the L.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University and Beijing Polytechnic University (BPU). The new university should start accepting its first students this year. The timeline for the creation of a Russian-Indian university has not been announced yet.

Russia and India may establish a joint university | Russia & India Report

 

[cobra commando]

TASS: World - Indian president to attend V-Day celebrations in Moscow

 

[Johny B]

Moscow opts out India to gain praise from Beijing

Having found itself bending under the burden of sanctions imposed on Russia after its aggression against Ukraine, Putin's regime spiraled down into the China's mold seeking to meet its every whim, which has also projected on the arms deliveries from Russia to India.
The rapid re-lift of additional Indian troops from Pakistani border to the edges of Burma stands as a kind of problem fully contingent on the Indian transport aviation contemporary capabilities.
In the event of it being incapacitated, the Indian government will have nothing to do but make way to the growing China-respired militant groups in the east of India. To pursue this goal and bring the Indian transport aviation to its knees, there is no need for Russia to follow the well-trodden terror-imbued path forged in Ukraine. Evidently, it would be enough to re-establish practices of British colonizers and lead New Delhi astray in the field of civil aviation industry development.
Undoubtedly, were the aforementioned come true, Moscow will see some berries from Beijing, for example in the form of credit for useless gas pipeline in Altay, which will remain idle, but furnish Putin's regime with a splendid opportunity to honor a hallowed tradition of capitalizing on big constructions projects.
Apparently, Moscow's ambitions make India face a hard choice as long as Russia happens to be incessant in its calls to fold current efforts aimed at meeting dire needs of Indian aviation and launch instead some pipe-dream projects, which are a long way to go, but the consequences of such transition leap to an eye today, especially if to fall back on a quite telling numbers.
To keep its aviation effective Indian aviation should modernize its obsolete fleet encompassing more than 200 aircrafts among which are more than 100 waning An-32 made by the Ukrainian enterprise "žAntonov". Furthermore, there are about 64 pieces of HS 748.100 "žAvro" designed by "žHindustan Aeronautics" in concert with "žBritish Aerospace", 17 Russian-made IL-76MD, 10 new military transports C-17 "žGlobemaster III" received from "žLockheed Martin" in 2014 as well as some C-130-J.
However, the major potential of Indian military transport aviation is still closely linked to the Ukrainian-manufactured An-32 and their Ukrainian-Indian upgrade called An-32RE. Along with that, India is in the works for the tender to modernize the aforesaid "žAvro" aircraft.
Indeed, before the outburst of hostilities in the Ukrainian state, Russia has never openly said anything against the modernization of Indian "žAvro" and An-32. This is easily explained by the fact that Russian corporation "žILiu-Shin" has no tried-and-tested engines of new making, therefore it cannot offer India any project associated with swift modernization of IL-76MD.
In connection with the foregoing, Russia arrived with quite an unprecedented way out of such a state-of-affairs, particularly through manufacturing on the basis of IL-76MD a brand-new Russian aircraft MTA until 2025. However, for the time being this aircraft is neither on a sketch-board, nor in the must-have list among the importers.
Interestingly, the aforementioned aircraft's engine PD-14 has undergone test-bench trials only in 2013, although Russia boldly states that it will be able to produce 20-30 engines per year. Nevertheless, the MTA project requires the production capacity to the tune of 200 engines within one year.
Taking that into account, it is obvious that before the beginning of war with Ukraine the hopes of Russia rested upon seizing the biggest Ukrainian aviation engine design plant "žMotor-Sich" in order to include it into the project and, thus, after some 10-15 years give India a full-fledged confidence in the logistics of its army. Nevertheless, such a prospective lacks both morally and practically.
Along with that, pressure exercised towards Ukraine fails to work and there is a zero possibility that it will bring any results in the future. However, it happened that war-irked Ukrainians managed to place offers for Indian arms market without Russia's input. Undoubtedly, the era of cooperation between Ukraine and Russia in the aviation industry has come to naught, which will hardly play in favor of the MTA aircraft project finalization in the best interest of India.
Noteworthy, after digesting that such turn of events won't make a go, Moscow raised hue and cry full of brazen lies aimed at New Delhi. One of the telling examples of such artifice is an article called "žLast batch of IAF's AN 32 planes still stuck in Ukraine due to conflict".
Moreover, there were Russian-urged rumors flying around that there are people in the Indian government ready to carry out negotiations with France and Israel about the change of all Ukrainian-manufactured aircrafts in service with Indian army into the alternative pieces, which are non-existent in any of the aforesaid countries.
Overall, such messages from Moscow are quite outspoken in respect to the notion that Russian authorities have never had an intention to increase the real potential of the Indian armed forces. Conversely, they try to put this potential on the rails of the most expensive project with unfathomable results in order to make the world wonder how Russia manages to be praised with heavy investments and favorable credit programs on the part of China.

 

[sgarg]

No good news about MTA in recent times. I suspect that IAF is more interested is increasing numbers of C-130 and C-17.

There is no focus on MTA (IAF attention).

The budgeting problems can be resolved if focus is there. Price escalation happens (especially in design phase) in complex projects. I doubt price escalation is such a big issue when 6 C-130 cost one billion US dollars.

 

[cobra commando]

Russia, India JWG to cooperate on railways | Russia & India Report

 

[Johny B]

Sanctions in motion or a failure of "Rosoboronexport"
to remain competitive

Such a telling statement has been recently made by the representative of Russian weaponry monopolist "Rosoboronexport". Particularly, he outlined that Russian arms trade juggernaut pales in comparison with its foreign counterparts and even named the exact areas of Russian-made military products suffering the biggest amount of export problems.
Pursuant to the dictum hatched by "ITAR-TASS", Mr. Aleksandr Brindikov, the chairman of the counselors' board under the director-general of "Rosoboronexport", in his speech delivered on March, 27 2015 to the members of the Counsel of Federation highlighted that Russian military hardware manufacturers are not able to stand a chance against the Western companies and were bound to leave more than 30 sectors in this field. To compliment, the statement of Mr. Brindikov is given below:
"Actually, we have left half of the sectors linked to the defense industry. Furthermore, the problem does not lie with the lack of marketing skills, but simply comes down to deterioration of our competitive capability in arms business".
Basically, Mr. Brindikov explains the aforementioned state-of-affairs by internal problems, namely lack of expertise in electronics and software, which by and large happens to be a cornerstone of modern-day hi-tech military produce.
Moreover, within the armor materiel niche of the world arms market Russia has been cut out by Ukraine, the USA, Germany and China, which spread far and wide with their tanks and APCs across the never-ending litany of new export sectors. All along, words of Mr. Brindikov speak for themselves:
"We had no chance but to step aside as long as we fail to remain competitive. We faced problems with production and delivery of military hardware."
As well as that, the latest tank battle simulation encompassing the world's most-renowned contemporary tanks showed that Russian armor materiel is a far way to go before being christened as an undisputed leader. Besides, the 1st place in the said battle was taken by the Ukrainian-manufactured T-84 "OPLOT", which had outstripped both "Leopard 2A7" and American M1A2 SEP V2 "Abrams" running the 2nd and 3rd respectively, not to mention Russia's tank T-90 MS "TAGIL", which occupied the 6th place bowing to Japan's Type-10 (the 4th place) and Israeli "Merkava Mk.4" (the 5th place).

According to Mr. Brindikov, the arms dealers of Russia are not safe from problems on the market of artillery systems and munitions as well. In particular, he argues the following:
"Our position in the artillery market leaves much to be desired, albeit previously in this realm it was no stress for us to go hand-in-hand with Sweden".
For example, as per the effective range Russian-made 152mm division-level self-propelled howitzer 2S19 "Msta-S" (manufactured since 1989) overwhelmingly loses to its foreign analogues produced in the USA, the UK, Germany and China. This is especially obvious in the case of firing by rocket projectiles as long as Russian system goes well to the limit of 29 km, while Chinese PLZ-05 hits the targets on the distance of 53 km together with American XM2001, British AS-90 "Braveheart" and German PzH 2000, which are able to remain effective within more than 40 km.
In addition to that, Russian statesman was rather outspoken regarding a serious back-step in the aviation industry gravely affecting business both with internal and external clientele.
Obviously, being in a state of continuous crises, Russian aircraft engine design industry has hardly managed to come up with any new offerings in recent years. With a bunch of years down the line, Russia saw no new aircraft manufacturing plant or design bureau or a project reaching the stage of lot production. Furthermore, the future of Russian aircraft industry will not last long without the Ukrainian assistance, which has already been fully perceived via the hands-on experience by its Indian as well as other foreign customers.
In effect, another bold project between Russia and India that crumbled to dust is the development of medium transport aircraft for Indian Air Force able to deliver infantry, artillery guns and light armored vehicles including light tanks, which was set to replace An-32. Nevertheless, experts assert that even under the most favorable conditions the first prototype of the aforesaid aircraft may come to pass only in 2025.
Interestingly, the aforementioned statement of a celebrated Russian official is the first open confession that the situation with Russian arms exports is far from being all smiles, although before Russian weaponry dealers seemed to exude optimism and confidence towards both uninitiated general public and well-versed potential customers.
"That was fully understood by experts long before. This derives from logic." – said Mr. Vadim Kozulin, the head of conventional arms program running by the Center for Political Studies.
Admittedly, all these years Russia managed to keep its head above water only through the use of the experience gained during the Soviet times. Apart from the rest of the world vigorously canalizing money into brand-new projects, Russian defense industry saw not even a smattering of investment and continued to be propelled by the efforts of enthusiasts and rare financial pitch-ins.

Seemingly, the question of at least any positive change is still hopelessly pending as long as all the software employed in the Russian military materiel is of the Western origin and arms imports are set to dwindle due to the sanctions imposed on Russia in the light of its annexation of Crimea and further aggression against Ukraine.
All things considered, provided such a situation trails ahead, Russia will not be able to carry out its obligations or, to a larger extent, finalization of its contracts with foreign partners at all. Sanctions eat deeper into Russian military plants and corporations, therefore their next round will put a decisive end to the entire military industry of Russia in general and its arms exports in particular.

 

[cobra commando]

Moscow Univ celebrates Hindi Diwas cementing Indo-Russian ties

 

[sorcerer]

India Interested in Producing Frigates Jointly With Russia


From 2003 to 2013, Russia delivered to India six frigates of project 11356, which were built at the Baltiysky Zavod in St. Petersburg and at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad.


The first three vessels were equipped with Klub-N cruise missiles; the others were armed with BrahMos cruise missiles of Russian-Indian production.

The Indian government expressed interest to jointly produce project 11356 frigates on its territory, Oleg Shumakov, director of the Yantar Shipyard, told RIA Novosti.

"After we completed a series of three Indian orders, we hoped that India would continue partnership. What is more, the Indian Defense Ministry said the county’s navy needed three-four more vessels of that class. Currently, they are examining a scenario to produce such ships at home, of course, with our participation and under our guidance," Shumakov said.

He also noted that frigates which are planned to be built in India will equipped with more advanced weapons than actual vessels of the project.

"According to our plan, those ships will be of the same class, but with different weapons. Weaponry progresses non-stop, so, I think, the new vessel will be equipped with something more advanced. However, as for its seagoing capabilities, it will be the same. Now we are consulting with our Indian colleagues on all the aspects of the project," Shumakov added.

Frigates of project 11356 are armed to fight against surface warships and submarines as well as to repel aerial attacks — both separately and in formation.

They are equipped with versatile missiles, artillery guns and advanced radio-technical devices for anti-submarine and anti-aircraft defense.

Vessels of the project have a displacement of nearly 4,000 tons, a length of 125 meters, a speed of 30 knots (56 kmh), and a crew of 180.


Read more: http://in.sputniknews.com/russia/20150520/1014528347.html#ixzz3ak7IQNRq

 

[sorcerer]

PM Modi set to visit central Asia, Russia


The PM’s visit will start with Uzbekistan from where he will go to Kazakhstan on July 7. He will then travel to Russia on July 8, before visiting Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel from July 6 to 13 to five Central Asian countries and Russia where he will attend the summits of BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in a bid to give an impetus to strategic, economic and energy ties.

The SCO Summit, scheduled to be held in Ufa, may see India getting the membership of the six-nation group of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. As of now, India has only an observer status in SCO. The summit of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will see discussions on enhancing cooperation in the economic area. With the BRICS Development Bank already set up, the summit could also look at the possibility of starting credit facility in local currency. The first head of the bank is noted Indian banker K V Kamath.

The PM’s visit will start with Uzbekistan from where he will go to Kazakhstan on July 7. He will then travel to Russia on July 8, before visiting Turkmenistan on July 10, Kyrgyzstan on July 11 and Tajikistan on July 12.

Modi will be the first Indian PM to visit the five Central Asian nations in one trip. The focus during the trip will be on enhancing trade, cooperation in energy and security, Secretary (West) in the External Affairs Ministry Navtej Sarna told reporters here.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/pm-modi-set-to-visit-central-asia-russia/

 

[prohumanity]

There is an evolving new world order. The nations are tired of being bullied by western, countryclub of G-7 which stinks of white racism. Prez. Putin is being made a big villain because he is digging the grave of western hegemony and uniting major nations to cooperate and trade so that the entire humanity enjoys the fruits of development.. West is losing the moral leadership of the world due to its greedy, selfish and materialistic world view where power is considered bigger than human values. Moral decline of the west and unity of non western block with a noble agenda of lifting developing nations out of poverty and ignorance is going to be the big theme of next few decades. Putting profits above well being of people is an ugly concept and west is suffering from this ugly mindset.
The trade in BRICS/SCO group is going to accelerate and lift the spirits of human race from current malaise and pessimism. As for, military domination.....those days are gone....NATO can not win as others are catching up very fast.

 

[hit&run]

http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/raji...gainst-ussr-report-1213218?utm_source=taboola

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was open to the idea of supporting anti-Russian civilian groups in Pakistan if the regime under General Zia-ul-Haq was ousted by the then Soviet Union, contradicting the perceived proximity between New Delhi and Moscow during the cold war era in 1985, claimed a recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) document.

This will put some sense back to Pakistanis who lie every time when they talk about Indo-Russia relationship being comparable to the slavery they do for USA.

In a hindsight I can not say if this India thinking was right or wrong but it matches with consistent Indian thinking of not letting foreign powers make the region their backyard.

 

[pmaitra]

I saw this news in ToI. Many commentators at ToI immediately called this a CIA propaganda. Personally, I don't believe it, because, it came right out of "recently declassified CIA documents," which to me is a lot of concocted fairy tales.

Anyway, here are a few things to consider in favour of these CIA claims.

• Rajiv Gandhi did not want any foreign power spreading roots in South Asia. He first armed LTTE, and then later sent in the IPKF into Sri Lanka, allegedly to dissuade the US from setting up a military base.
• Rajiv Gandhi was a staunch supporter of Mohammed Najibullah, the pro-Soviet President of Afghanistan. He did so to prevent a US influence taking over Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Similarly, it is possible he might have feared a Soviet influence over Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• Finally, during the Soviet-Mujahideen War, India and the USSR were actively helping the Baloch insurgents. Later on, India stopped supporting the Baloch insurgent as it was beginning to spread to the Baloch dominated eastern Iran, and India needed Iran for oil and access to Afghanistan.

 

[thethinker]

Indo-Russia relations can't be compared to same level as what US-Pak are.
Non-alignment foreign policy of India in a nutshell:

 

[hit&run]

Many commentators at ToI immediately called this a CIA propaganda.

Most of them are Congress-I supporters, and their only job is to keep congress-I politically on positive side of the argument. They do not have acumen to do any critical thinking and analysis.

BTW you post have made Pakistan look like a frugal science laboratory.

 

[pmaitra]

Most of them are Congress-I supporters, and their only job is to keep congress-I politically on positive side of the argument. They do not have acumen to do any critical thinking and analysis.

BTW you post have made Pakistan look like a frugal science laboratory.

When two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled. Indian leaders, for all their corruption, have tried as much as they could, to not be in a position when it can get trampled over. I am saying this from an apolitical position.

 

[pmaitra]

Russia still has a role

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 1st Sept 15

During my visit to Russia last week (due disclosure: at the invitation of Rostec, the umbrella agency that oversees Russia’s high-technology industry), I was struck by the changes from the days of the Soviet Union, as also by important similarities. The drab, socialist Moscow of yore has been replaced by a glittering city, peopled by purposeful men in sharp suits and chic women in impossibly high heels. The double-headed eagle of Tsarist Russia (itself drawn from the Byzantine Empire) is clawing itself back into prominence, replacing the hammer and sickle at prominent places, most notably the Kremlin. Even so, Russia is discernibly stressed by rock-bottom global oil prices, compounded by western sanctions imposed after the intervention in Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea. Nowhere is the strain more evident than in the defence industry. Moscow can no longer afford an ambitious $650 billion defence modernisation plan, particularly since --- unlike western defence industries that remain commercially viable by producing both weaponry and civilian products --- Russia’s defence industry serves only military buyers. Boeing and Airbus derive 80 per cent of their revenue from commercially successful civil airliners; in contrast, Sukhoi is struggling to sell its Superjet 100 outside Russia.

What does this mean for New Delhi, and what options does this create for India? In the decade after 1989, as Russia’s military spending plummeted to one-thirtieth the 1989 figure, three-quarters of the Soviet Union’s famed military design bureaus went kaput, putting a million Russian scientists on the streets. With Russian soldiers begging in uniform on Moscow’s streets, the bankrupt state cancelled 1,149 individual R&D projects. Beijing swooped in, hiring hundreds of scientists who catalyzed the birth of China’s now formidable defence industry. New Delhi, in contrast, provided Moscow life support, ordering a generation of weaponry including Sukhoi-30MKI and MiG-29K fighters, T-90 tanks, Talwar-class frigates and other procurements too numerous to recount.

India learnt hard lessons from those purchases, many involving transfer of technology (ToT) to build Russian weaponry in India. Technology sometimes remained undelivered (e.g. the T-90 tank), and India could not enforce flawed contracts drawn up by ill-qualified lawyers and bureaucrats. Spare parts, suddenly manufactured not in the Soviet Union but in successor countries, became New Delhi’s problem. India had bought equipment without providing for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and mid-life upgrades (MLU), even though, over the multi-decade service lifespan of a military platform, MRO and MLU tots up to four-eight times the acquisition cost. Consequently, we are still sending Kilo-class submarines to Russia for overhaul.

So should New Delhi turn away from a Russia in economic distress, or do there remain opportunities for us? Unlike in the 1990s, India has many more alternatives: the United States is today eager to bolster India as an emerging counter-balance to China. US Ambassador Richard Verma, at a recent speech in Delhi endorsed India as a “leading power” instead of a “balancing power”. Moscow’s arms prices, once well below western norms, have risen significantly, making Russian weaponry only slightly cheaper than European and American arms. This advantage, many say is negated by lower Russian serviceability rates.

Even so, the answer can only be “Stay tuned to Moscow!” Although details remain outside the public eye, Russia assists India with technologies that the western bloc is unwilling to. One example is nuclear powered submarines. From 1988 to 1991, the Soviet Union leased India the nuclear powered attack submarine, INS Chakra, and helped create the building blocks, including design assistance, that has evolved into a successful Indian nuclear submarine, INS Arihant. Since 2012, a second Russian nuclear attack submarine (SSN) has been with the Indian Navy on a ten-year lease. India hopes to develop a line of SSNs and Russian assistance could be crucial. Well-informed US scholar, Ashley Tellis, says Washington would not even consider sharing SSN technology with anyone.

In fact, the United States, the global emperor of defence technology, has opened the technology door to India only a crack. Over the last five years, over-the-counter sales to India of $10 billion worth of US defence equipment makes for happy reading in Washington. Far less impressive, though, has been progress in the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) that seeks to transform the “buyer-seller relationship” into a more equal one based on co-development and co-production of military platforms. A “joint working group” on aircraft carrier technology and on co-developing jet engines has reported no progress. Like French company, Snecma, earlier, US engine-makers are reluctant to share the costly technologies for materials that go into jet engines’ “combustion chamber”, which must withstand temperatures of up to 2,100 degrees. In contrast, Moscow has recently offered to co-develop with India a highly advanced engine for the “fifth generation fighter aircraft”. Russian co-development would not only provide the Defence R&D Organisation a much-needed breakthrough, but allow New Delhi to signal that it has multiple options. Cultivating Moscow has not just intrinsic benefits; it also induces Paris and Washington not to drag their feet.

Another reason to service the Moscow connection is to prevent a catastrophic Russian turn towards Beijing and Islamabad. Russia’s experience with China in the 1990s, when Beijing apparently modified the Sukhoi-27 fighter into the “indigenous” J-11B, makes Moscow extremely wary of arms sales to China. But lured by China’s massive market size and with few other options, Russia may well yield to China. It would be useful to let Moscow know New Delhi remains a buyer.

Servicing the Moscow connection would allow New Delhi to develop a structured multilateralism for defence acquisition. Such a defence procurement policy flows naturally from a multi-aligned foreign policy, in which each of India’s external relationships is leveraged by the combined weight of all the others.

The mistakes of the 1990s and early 2000s must be guarded against. India’s aim for every acquisition must be clear and spelt out unmistakeably: first, obtaining the crucial technologies for life-cycle support, including MRO, so that India’s military is assured of service support and industry can benefit from follow-on service contracts that are worth four-eight times the purchase price. Second, a contract cannot be awarded just on the basis of L-1 (lowest price); instead, a key determinant must be the technology the vendor is willing to transfer. Such an approach to acquisition would require political courage in the ministry and the expertise to evaluate technology in various forms.

Over the years, global arms vendors, together with New Delhi, have developed a bizarre ritual in which they ceremonially stone the “buyer-seller relationship” devil, and then walk back to the table and sign some more purchase contracts. Changing this would require a new mind set within government, and as many players as possible on the board, including Moscow.

 

[sorcerer]

Modi Should Aim to Realign Relations, Halt Russian Drift

by G Parthasarathy
India’s relations with Russia have been so enduring and time-tested that the two countries have tended to take each other for granted. There is, however, little understanding of how their foreign policies have evolved with the passage of time. With the advent of economic liberalisation in India and the simultaneous collapse of the Soviet Union, global power equations changed, inevitably impacting their bilateral relations. Given the relentless American hostility and efforts to undermine Russia’s influence even in its immediate neighbourhood, Russia inevitably turned to China to establish a global balance of power.

In this scenario, an economically weakened Russia tried to rope India into its growing partnership with China. This was an effort doomed to fail, given China’s hostility to the aspirations of an emerging, economically vibrant India. But, throughout this period, Russia remained a reliable partner of India. It remains India’s largest and most reliable supplier of weapons and technology, in areas ranging from warships and submarines to fighter aircraft and tanks. But while India recognises Russia’s imperatives for forging a defence partnership with China, Russia has been increasingly uneasy with India diversifying its defence acquisitions, with supplies from the US, France and Israel.

Adding to Russian concerns is the fact that with India’s new emphasis on “Make In India” and involvement of the private industry in India’s defence acquisitions, they could lose out to Western companies like BAE Systems, Boeing and Lockheed, which have close ties with private industry in India. Respecting Indian sensitivities, Russia had earlier banned the transfer of RD 93 jet fighter engines from China to Pakistan. It, however, yielded to Chinese pressure a few years ago, and agreed to the transfer of these engines for Pakistan’s Chinese supplied JF 17 jet fighters.

Three other developments have raised eyebrows in New Delhi. There is firstly, the Russian readiness to join China and Pakistan in an effort designed to give the Taliban a significant say in the future of Afghanistan. Moscow has shown little regard, or understanding, about Indian concerns. Secondly, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov recently described Pakistan as Russia’s “closest partner”, while announcing, following General Raheel Sharif’s Moscow visit, that Russia had agreed to supply Pakistan with its advanced SU 35 jet fighters and MI 35 attack helicopters. Finally, there was astonishment at the spectacle of Russia making common cause with China and Pakistan, to undermine India’s bid for permanent membership of the Security Council.

It would be incorrect to assert, as some do, that these developments suggest we are seeing the beginnings of a Moscow-Beijing-Rawalpindi Axis, directed against India. Despite all its bonhomie with China, the Russians traditionally know that China has territorial and other ambitions that they cannot accommodate, or countenance. China’s decision to renege on a $450-billion energy deal with Russia was a personal setback for President Putin.

Russia continues to provide sophisticated weaponry to Vietnam, despite Chinese reservations. It has offered a partnership to develop and supply state-of-the-art fifth generation fighter aircraft to India. Also, Russia knows a cash-strapped Pakistan cannot afford to pay for expensive Russian SU 35 aircraft. Russia stood by us, after our nuclear tests. Moscow, however, should not forget that India ignored Western sanctions and calls for Russia’s isolation after its takeover of Crimea. Russia cannot also ignore that in the emerging world order, India is one power with which it doesn’t have any inherent conflict of interest.


PM Modi is scheduled to visit Moscow this year. Like him, Putin is a supreme realist. The visit should be utilised to candidly discuss where the two nations stand on regional and global security issues, including religious extremism, in the arc ranging from Pakistan and Afghanistan, through Central Asia, to Turkey. The discussions would naturally cover strategies to promote their mutually beneficial defence and energy partnership.
The writer is a former diplomat

http://www.newindianexpress.com/mag...t-Russian-Drift/2015/09/26/article3045621.ece

 

[spikey360]

I am greatly disheartened by the drifting away from Russia under Modi. Things are still in auto-pilot mode. But it should not be so.
Modi must do his best to be in Putin's good books. He should suffer from no illusion. Russia is the big brother in Asia, not China.

 

[DingDong]

I am greatly disheartened by the drifting away from Russia under Modi. Things are still in auto-pilot mode. But it should not be so.
Modi must do his best to be in Putin's good books. He should suffer from no illusion. Russia is the big brother in Asia, not China.

Not for long. We are preparing for future, Russian decline in inevitable. Russia must accept that India is the Big Brother in South Asia.

BTW, why is India so keen to purchase S-400? Has yet another DRDO product turned out to be DUD?

 

[anoop_mig25]

big drift in Indo-russian relations