Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov
NEW DELHI: The long-standing extensive defence partnership between India and Russia will “reorient” itself from largely a buyer-seller relationship at present to joint R&D, co-development and co-production of advanced military technologies and systems.The joint statement issued after the Modi-Putin summit said this was in tune with India’s quest for self-reliance in defence production. Both sides agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components and other products for maintenance of Russian-origin arms as well as defence equipment under the Make in India programme through transfer of technology, it said.The two countries will also work to set up joint ventures to meet the needs of the Indian armed forces as well as “subsequently export to mutually friendly third countries”, it added.While no fresh defence deal was inked during the summit, as was expected, the delegation-level meeting between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov on Thursday discussed India’s plan to procure another five squadrons of the S-400 ‘Triumf’ air defence systems and Rs 10,000 crore worth of their surface-to-air missiles for existing units, which performed extremely well during Operation Sindoor, as was earlier reported by TOI. In the air defence arena, India is also looking to acquire short-range Pantsir and man-portable Verba surface-to-air missile systems. Another procurement on the anvil is R-37 air-to-air missiles, with a range of over 200km, and its advanced version called RVV-BD to arm upgraded Sukhoi-30MKI fighters in IAF’s combat fleet.Joint production of advanced and lightweight variants of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles also figured in the talks. These BrahMos-NG missiles, for instance, will be able to arm even lightweight fighters instead of the present ones that only heavyweight Sukhoi-30MKI jets can carry.PM Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin expressed satisfaction with the regular military contacts between the two countries, while appreciating the ‘Indra’ joint military exercises between their armed forces. They reaffirmed their commitment to maintain the momentum of joint military cooperation activities and expand military delegation exchanges, the statement said.Nations reaffirm anti-terror commitmentPM Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their strong commitment to preventing and countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border movement of terrorists and terrorist financing networks and safe havens.“India and Russia have long stood shoulder to shoulder in the fight against terrorism. Whether it is the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, or the cowardly attack at Crocus City Hall, the root of all such incidents is the same. India firmly believes that terrorism is a direct assault on the values of humanity, and that global unity against it is our greatest strength,” said Modi in his media statement. According to the joint statement, the leaders unequivocally condemned all acts of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation by any “religious or ideological pretexts, whenever, wherever, and by whomsoever they may be committed”.They also called for actions against all UN-listed terrorist groups and entities, including al-Qaida, ISIS/Daesh and their affiliates, aimed at rooting out terrorists’ safe havens.
