Russian ambassador to India Denis Alipov told a state-owned news agency on Thursday that unlike western countries, Russia doesn’t impose political terms and conditions on friend India.
Alipov told TASS: “Russia was a pioneer on the way of making production local and transferring military technologies in compliance with India’s modern requirements. We have long implemented and are successfully developing what Western countries are just beginning to do.”
“However, as compared to some of them, we do not set political terms to Indian partners.”
Even with 36 per cent of the military supplies, Russia continues to be India’s top military supplier.
The ambassador was responding to a question that India had cut down on its buying of Russian military equipment.
A report by leading think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday said that although the top seller of weapons to India, Russia made up for only 36 per cent of India’s buys right now—the first time since 1960–64 that it made up less than half of India’s arms imports.
Alipov added: “Such pronouncements are a twisting of facts. India seeks to develop its own defence sector. The emphasis in the sphere of military-technical cooperation is on the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Self-Reliant India’ initiatives that stipulate maximally local production and the acquisition of the latest technologies. This shapes the policy towards diversifying cooperation with foreign partners. Russia holds a leading place among them and is the top partner in terms of some indicators.”
“India has already produced almost 1,000 T-90 tanks and 300 Su-30MKI planes under licences. The practice of setting up joint ventures and business partnerships is also expanding. BrahMos missile systems are the most successful example of this. The Indo-Russian Rifles Joint Venture is also in operation to produce AK-203 assault rifles.”
“We are building up dialogue in R&D and working on the prospects of jointly entering the markets of third countries. As compared to Western countries, Russia is ready for maximally full transfer of advanced technologies,” he added.
The slide in Russian buys is also indicative of a conscious Indian effort to wean away from dominant dependence on Russia besides the fact Russia’s weapon selling capability is somewhat curtailed by its ongoing war in Ukraine.