India’s trusted partner
The Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s. After this, India turned to America for weapons. There was an increase in diplomatic and diplomatic efforts, but it did not yield any good results. Despite these efforts, the necessary weapons could not be supplied. Of all the weapons that India was getting from 1997 to 2016, three-fourths were imported from Russia. Russia has always been India’s favorite country for weapons. It has been a trusted partner in the defense sector for over two decades.
never banned
If India buys weapons from Russia, then the biggest reason for this is its positive attitude. There is often a fear of sanctions from Western countries, especially the US. But this is not the case with Russia. This happened in the 1960s when India first bought MiG fighter jets from Russia. When war with Pakistan took place in 1965 and 1971, America stopped giving arms.
After this, when India conducted nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998, many countries including the US imposed sanctions. Whereas Russia did nothing of the sort. Rather, Russia agreed to help India with nuclear reactors. In 1974, the US and Canada refused to provide the heavy water required for the Tarapur plant.
cheap weapons and easy payment
Russia never pressurized India to make immediate payment on the delivery of weapons. India purchased defense equipment worth $35 billion from 1960 to 1990. Historically these devices were bought without payment. It was paid in Indian Rupees instead of Ruble. At the same time, these weapons are still available for India at a reasonable price.
If we talk about western countries, then weapons from Russia are 30 to 35 percent cheaper. For example, the Sukhoi fighter jet with the Indian Air Force has become its backbone. Apart from this, Rafale has also been purchased for the Air Force. Sukhoi can be made even at the cost of a single piece of Rafale. In the year 2018, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited had proposed to make 40 additional Sukhois and that too at one-third the cost of Rafale.
trust and confidence
The relations between India and Russia are based on mutual trust. Russia has been supplying high-tech weapons to India since the time of the Cold War. He refuses to give weapons equipped with this technique to other countries. Both the Russian-made S-400 air defense system and the Sukhoi-35 fighter jet are old weapons. The Soviet Union lent it on loan for three years in 1988 and 1991. This was the first time that any country had received weapons like this.
Whenever India bought a weapon system from abroad, it would have been quite advanced but the state of the art and technology transfer would have been refused. Russia, on the other hand, not only helped in manufacturing the MiG-21 and MiG-23/27 fighter jets with license but also repaired the T-72 tanks in India. It was in these factories that the MiG-21 was assembled. It is clear that the attitude of Russia is quite open-minded compared to the western countries.