The attacks also have heralded more sanctions for Russia, with the EU’s European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen saying that the sanctions would be its ‘harshest’ ever. These sanctions, while targeted to harm Russia, is sure to have effects on other nations too, including India, especially within the defence sector. Let’s see what relations India shares with Russia, its different defence deals and therefore the effect that these sanctions could play on these pacts.
Russia is one of India’s largest arms suppliers. Around 23 per cent of Russian arms exports between 2016 and 2020 visited the South Asian nation, consistent with a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In fact, a Congressional Research Service report in October 2021 said that while there had been a substantial visit to India’s dependence on arms and equipment from Russia, the Indian military couldn’t operate effectively without Russian-supplied equipment.
The Indian Army’s main battle tank force consists predominantly of Russian T-72M1 (66%) and T-90S (30 per cent). Deals that might suffer attributable to sanctions The Wire in an exceedingly report outlined how India’s latest defence deals with Russia would be affected because of the sanctions. The Wire reported that deals like the S-400 Triumf missile systems, the Akula submarine which of 20,000 Kalashnikov AK-203 7.62x39mm assault rifles may well be adversely affected because of the Western sanctions against Russia.
Also, the sanctions could jeopardise India’s $375 million BrahMos bomb export order to the Philippines. This is because BrahMos Aerospace is an Indo-Russian venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia. India already faces possible sanctions It is important to notice that India faces the chance of being sanctioned for its acquisition of the S-400 missile system from Russia under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act.
CAATSA had to get force in 2017 and seeks to discourage countries that engage with Russia, especially within the realm of defence purchases, through punitive measures. Under the Act, sanctions are imposed on Turkey — a NATO ally — for its acquisition of the S-400 system from Russia. What does Russia have to say? On Wednesday, Russia said that while sanctions imposed by the West would result in fear and mistrust, Moscow was looking forward to travelling 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’ve got big plans in defence and that we hope to implement all of those,” Russian diplomat Roman Babushkin was quoted as saying.
