India and Russia are set to expand their defence cooperation, with India expressing interest in procuring additional S-400 missile systems. Discussions took place ahead of the India-Russia annual summit.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted Russian President Vladimir Putin on his birthday and conveyed that he was looking forward to welcoming him in India for the upcoming India-Russia annual summit.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has called for India and Russia to adopt a creative and innovative approach to address complex geopolitical challenges, emphasizing diversification and expansion of cooperation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit India around December 5 to hold annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to further solidify bilateral strategic ties.
'Friendship between our countries is higher than the highest mountain and deeper than the deepest ocean,' the defence minister told the Russian president.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin held the 21st India-Russia summit, covering an array of areas with an aim to further enhance the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries.
The new BrahMos missiles will be 'dual-role capable', which means warships can fire them at targets on land as well as at enemy warships.
Russia President Vladimir Putin on Monday described India as a great power, a friendly nation and a time-tested friend and echoed common concerns over terrorism, drug trafficking and organised crime as he held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In his opening remarks at the talks, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh asserted that India is confident of overcoming the challenges with a strong political will and an inherent capability of its people.
Singh's comments that the nuclear option should not be resorted to is a message to Russia as well as Western powers backing Ukraine, people familiar with the matter said. Ukraine does not have any nuclear arsenal.
The annual meeting of the defence ministers of India and Russia, slated for Thursday, has been deferred till October 10 due to inability of the visiting minister to reach New Delhi.
"We foresee a very intensive engagement during the day that will culminate in the summit," the MEA spokesperson said.
In the summit as well as in the inaugural '2+2' defence and foreign ministerial talks, the two sides are also expected to focus on the situation in Afghanistan and the rising threat of terrorism including from groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
'It is time India calibrated a policy of what Indira Gandhi called equi-proximity rather than equi-distance between the US and Russia.'
But private Indian defence firms prefer to do business with the West. Indian CEOs say they encounter difficulties in obtaining full and timely payment from Russian partners.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
India on Monday did some plain-speaking with China over its blocking of the Indian bid to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the UN and warned the global community of "serious consequences" if it continues to adopt "double standards" in dealing with terrorism.
INS Vikramaditya is not the only thing on Defence Minister AK Anthony's agenda during his current visit to Moscow. Also on the anvil is the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft joint development project which, if finalised and signed, could emerge as India's largest joint defence programme costing around 11 billion dollars, reports Nandan Unnikrishnan.
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