What makes you think that buying Russian weapons make India a bootlicker of China? This is a fallacious argument you are making and it does not withstand scrutiny.
Okay, let's see it this way. After the collective West has abandoned Russia with multiple sanctions, esp. on chips/other technologies, Russia is sourcing them, or the raw material from China.
Now, going forward, buying any complex equipment (not things like guns) will mean -
- Chinese materials will be used in them. We have seen Russian vehicles (esp. Panstir) stuck in Ukrainian fields due to cheap Chinese tires getting destroyed way before their predicted life. This is just one axis, we don't know what other effects equipment might have.
For eg., Russian SAMs/Radar using Chinese computers/chipsets might completely deny to lock-on or
even detect Chinese jets.
- Chinese will have a veto power over them. During any Indo-China conflict, China can force Russia to stop supplying us with ammunition/spares/equipment altogether. While it is largely assumed Russia will not buckle over such pressure, we never know, and should not trust a geopolitical partner like they are our brothers.
- It is likely to get delayed. Russia never had a good track record of supplying anything on time. Be it Ships, ADs, or Jets. They even take more time to service/MLU's existing equipment. And that was before the Russo-Ukraine war.
Any high-value spare equipment (like S-400s, Tanks) in Russian inventory is likely to be diverted to use on the Western border rather than shipped to us on time.
- Chinese will likely know the working/know-how of the weapon. A lot of Russian equipment is operated, or cloned by China. With increasing bonhomie between Russia & China, it is not unlikely that some Russian insiders will sell or collaborate with China for Russian technologies. Our over-dependence on Russian weapons makes us predictable versus China.
For example, we prefer to field Mig-29UPGs/Mirage-2000s against our Northern border with China instead of Su-30MKIs which are more advanced. The likely reason is China is aware of all secrets of Flanker, including its BARS radar.
Here's something to ponder about. Russians have gained enormous amount of knowledge and experience in dealing with Western weapons and knowing what works and doesn't work. It would be extremely foolish and unwise to dismiss Russian weapons and the knowledge and know how. I bet that Russians are inventing new ways of improving their tanks to withstand the current challenges they face. And they have come up with innovative ways of defeating drones en masse. The Ukrainians freely admit that nearly all of their drones are useless and have resorted to jury rigged handheld drones and they only have limited success.
And don't forget that the Russians were at the receiving end of HIMARS and western artillery so they probably developed workable countermeasures against those weapons. That is something you cannot easily ignore.
I am not denying the effectiveness of Russian equipment. In fact, the war has shown large gaping holes in Western equipment and the myth of supposedly "poor quality" of Russian weapons is dispelled.
Some areas of Russian weapon fare better than the West is EW and Armoured vehicles (Tanks/IFVs).
