India to boost defence ties with ‘trusted partner’ Russia amid efforts to diversify arms imports
Minister’s visit comes at a time of faltering defence ties with Russia as India shifts arms trade policy over regional security concerns, analysts say
India’s defence minister on Monday kick-started an official visit to Russia aimed at maintaining the decades-old arms partnership, even as New Delhi continues to pivot away from Russian weapons imports towards greater reliance on Western suppliers.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his counterpart, Andrey Belousov, are expected to co-chair the 21st meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation during Singh’s three-day visit.
The meeting comes at a time in which defence ties, which have traditionally been a major pillar of the India-Russia partnership, have faltered. Analysts say this is because India – the world’s largest arms importer – has been steadily reducing its dependence on Russian weapons in recent years, marking a significant shift in its arms trade policy.
“The Indian establishment has been mindful of this dependence on Russia, and they have been trying to diversify … and there was a push for this since 2016,” said Swasti Rao, a geopolitical analyst and former fellow at Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, a defence ministry-backed research group in Delhi.
According to a March report by the independent think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the percentage of India’s weapons imports from Russia versus other countries has declined steadily over the past decade, from 76 per cent in 2009-2013 to 36 per cent in 2019-2023.
