Round The World

New Delhi, 19 October 2010 

India-Russia Ties

TYING LOOSE ENDS

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of International Studies (JNU)

Despite lingering concerns over delays and hiccups over some important military deals, India and Russia have shown that the defence ties are rock solid and will continue to be so in the interest of both the countries. The 10th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) held in New Delhi recently amply demonstrated the level of synergy in the defence sector. During the meet, Defence Minister Antony and his Russian counterpart Serdyukov discussed issues of regional and global security and conversed on the need for increased cooperation between the Armed Forces of both countries.

As a result, the meet was quickly followed by the ongoing 3rd ‘Indra’ counter-terrorism exercise where forces from India and Russia are involved in combat drills in a semi-urban and mountainous environment. The "battalion-level'' exercise, being held at Chaubattia near Ranikhet in Uttarakhand, comprises a large Russian contingent of more than 250 personnel from its Southern Command, as also IL-76 transport aircraft.

The frequency of war-games and joint exercises at all levels of the Armed Forces  has of late become a significant symbol and a fallout of increasing defence tie-up seen in the number of such initiatives being taken by India and the United States. Hence, more exercises between all sections of the defence sector should be expected between India and Russia in the years to come in order to cement the robust defence cooperation and learn from each other.

During the 10^th meet of the Commission, both sides took the opportunity to review the status of several ongoing and proposed projects, including the licensed production of T-90 tanks and establishment of the repair and overhaul facilities for various Russian-origin defence equipment in India. They were satisfied with the conclusion of the shareholders agreement for formation of a joint venture company for the development of the multi-role transport aircraft (MTA).

They also agreed to expedite modalities of the proposed project for the joint design, development and production of the fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). The FGFA production will be undertaken jointly at an estimated investment of about $ 25 billion. Within a span of the next 10 years, India will get about 250 to 300 FGFAs from the joint production.

Finer details of this project will be worked out during the visit of the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev to India in December. The Presidential visit will be significant as follows on the heels of an equally important visit of US President Barack Obama early next month. The back-to-back visits will amply demonstrate that international relations has definitely changed since the Cold War days where such visits from the US and the former Soviet Union would not have come without negative repercussions.

The two visits will also give New Delhi an opportunity to assess the kind of deliverables that the leaders bring in their respective visions for India-Russia and India-US relations. Other high-level expected visits are of the Chief of Russian Defence forces late November and the Russian Navy Chief January next year.

According to the IRIGC-MTC meet, India will also get 45 MTA within a period of 10 years.  Both countries also decided to move ahead in the areas of R&D and technology transfer with the active involvement of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Indian side. "In the coming 10 years, the FGFA and MTA projects will be the flagship programmes in Indo-Russian defence cooperation," declared Defence Minister Antony.

Needless to say, the otherwise time-tested Indo-Russian defence ties have been marred by some concerns over implementation delays. Although these apprehensions will not derail the highly robust relationship, they also raise issues of confidence and reliability at a time when India is seriously diversifying its sources of defence procurement. For instance, the Gorshkov issue has become a thorny issue with huge delays and cost escalations.

According to sources, India will now get the 44,570-tonne Gorshkov in 2013 ---instead of August 2008 --- by paying $2.33 billion instead of $974 million, in what was thought to be ``a fixed price contract'' when it was inked in January 2004. Similarly, the 10-year lease of the K-152 Nerpa Akula-II nuclear-powered submarine has been delayed to early-2011 now.

Regarding delays in implementation of several projects jointly undertaken by the two countries, Russian Defence Minister Serdyukov clarified, “We have a great volume of military and technical projects and it is quite natural to have some delays. But I will underscore that there are no critical delays in our projects.” The India-Russia relationship is one that has stood the test of times.

Ties between New Delhi and the erstwhile Soviet Union were unquestionable and Russia is revitalizing the durable ties in a rapidly changing world. In an inter-dependent and globalized world, every relationship is significant on its merit. Russia and India have enough complementariness and shared interests to sustain a durable relationship.

The challenge is to diversify the ties and create more inter-linkages so as to make the relationship more enticing for both nations in a world of options and choices. In the post-Cold War era, India has painted a different picture of itself: a vibrant and rapidly growing economy with one of the most enviable markets in the world, thanks to the liberalization of its economy.

The Presidential years of Prime Minister Putin has been largely credited with bringing back Russia into the reckoning in world politics using its energy resource as a major driving force of economic resurgence and hence a corresponding rise in strategic and political clout. Putin as the then President of the Russian Federation was also responsible for opening a new chapter in India-Russia ties considering the changes and continuities.

The leadership in both India and Russia, despite some occasional hiccups has been able to keep the relationship sailing. The India visit of Putin earlier this year was credible in increasing the pace and regularity of communication between the two countries. Coming after the successful Moscow visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late last year.

The high point of Singh's visit was sealing a broad-based civilian nuclear agreement. Despite India diversifying its source of defence purchases and new players giving competition, Russia continues to be the largest supplier of military hardware to India.

Today’s globalised world is strikingly different from the constraints put by the Cold War politics where India’s relations with the erstwhile Soviet Union and the US were seen as an ‘either-or-case’, one coming at the expense of the other. But, at a time when even Washington and Moscow are trying to iron out differences and decrease areas of mistrust, there is nothing stopping New Delhi from diversifying its ties with different countries.

In fact, with some cautious diplomacy, India should concentrate on projecting itself as an enviable market, enticing to different countries for the same or different reasons. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)