Russia-India defence sales face looming sanctions - Broadsword by Ajai Shukla

In 2019, SIPRI placed Russia as India’s largest arms supplier from 2014 to 2018, accounting for 58% of all India’s defense exports.

By Vikas Gupta

Defence News of India, 26 Feb 22

As Russia faces growing waves of economic and financial sanctions imposed by Western democracies, countries like India, which depend on Moscow for much of their defense equipment, face tough choices.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, describing President Joe Biden’s meeting with G7 leaders on Thursday, promised “devastating sanctions packages” against Russia.

Among the measures announced by the White House are “drastic restrictions imposed on the Russian military to deal a blow to Putin’s military and strategic ambitions”.

“Exports of nearly all U.S. items and items produced in foreign countries using certain U.S.-origin software, technology, or equipment will be restricted to targeted military end users. These comprehensive restrictions apply to the Russian Defense Ministry, including the Russian Armed Forces, wherever located,” the White House said Friday.


“This includes the Russia-wide refusal to export sensitive technologies, primarily targeting the Russian defence, aviation and navy sectors to cut off Russia’s access to cutting-edge technologies,” the White House said.

Defense deals between Russia and India are booming, with contracts worth more than $15 billion underway. In 2019, the Stockholm International Peace Research Organization’s authoritative report placed Russia as India’s largest arms supplier from 2014 to 2018, accounting for 58% of all India’s defense exports. India.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the world’s largest buyer of Russian air defense equipment, much of it controversial, such as the $5.43 billion contract for five air defense units S -400 Triumph. Washington vigorously opposed the purchase, and New Delhi is vulnerable to US sanctions under a 2017 law called the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

It imposes sanctions on countries that engage in “significant transactions” with Russian, Iranian and North Korean defense and intelligence entities. The US Congress has authorized US presidents to waive these sanctions, but sources in Washington say waivers would only be granted in exceptional cases.

Given the outrage in Western capitals over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, any waiver to India over the S-400 seems highly unlikely. US President Joe Biden, asked by a reporter on Thursday if India – a “major defense partner” of the United States – was in tune with Washington on Russia, replied less fully: “We were in consultation with India today. We haven’t resolved this completely.

An even more complicated issue between India, Russia and Ukraine concerns a $3 billion contract between the three countries for the purchase of four Russian Krivak-III frigates by India. Of these, two are to be supplied fully built by Russia, while the other two frigates are to be built at the Goa shipyard.

Nevertheless, these frigates are powered by Ukrainian Zorya gas turbines, which Kyiv refused to supply Moscow after 2014, when Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea. With some difficulty, New Delhi negotiated a deal obliging India to buy the Zorya turbines from Ukraine and transport them to the Yantar shipyard in Russia, where they would be installed on the two Krivak-III frigates and then sailed. to India.

Although this arrangement caters to all sensitivities, it is now highly unlikely that Ukraine will supply the Zorya turbines to Russia. India will have to find a way to make these warships operational.

India is also dependent on Ukraine for the ongoing modernization of its more than 100 Antonov-32 medium transport aircraft. While the main manufacturer of the plane, Antonov, is located in Ukraine, different parts of the plane come from various places in the former Soviet Union. With Moscow blocking these supplies, Antonov must manufacture its own components and systems needed to upgrade the AN-32.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s sophisticated arms industry has also supplied around 320 high-quality T-80UD tanks to the Pakistani army.

New Delhi will also have to find ways to please Moscow, but Russia is setting the bar high. In New Delhi, Russian Chargé d’Affaires Roman Babushkin said Moscow expects continued support from its “special and privileged strategic partner” when the UN Security Council votes Friday night on the Ukraine crisis.


“We highly appreciate India’s deep understanding of the current situation as well as the reasons leading to it. We expect India to support Russia in the UN Security Council,” Babushkin said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday and called for “an immediate end to violence” and dialogue from all sides. India has been reluctant, including at the UN Security Council, to condemn Russian aggression.

However, the strategic nature of arms purchases between India and Russia creates its own constraints. In 2019, New Delhi signed a $3 billion contract with Moscow, leasing a Russian nuclear attack submarine (SSN) for ten years, starting in 2025. Moscow understands and wields the influence this generates.

Among other ongoing defense sales between India and Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a factory in 2019 that will manufacture at least 750,000 AK-203 Kalashnikov rifles for the Indian army, worth an additional $100,000. a billion dollars.

Meanwhile, the IAF wants to buy and modernize 21 idle MiG-29 fighters from Russia for around $1 billion. The IAF has also offered a new contract to build 18 Sukhoi-30MKI fighters to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for over $800 million. And HAL and Russian Helicopters have teamed up to build 200 Kamov 226T light helicopters in India, worth around $2 billion. A contract for “Very Short Range Air Defense Systems” (VSHORADS) is also in the works, for which a Russian supplier submitted the lowest bid.