Opinion of foreign analysts: Partnership between Russia and India will last for decades
Analysts say that despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently "rebuking" Russian President Vladimir Putin over the situation in Ukraine, the long-standing friendship between the two countries will not be affected.
Today's era is not the era of war, and I spoke to you about this on the phone.
- Modi said to Vladimir Putin at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
This marked a change in New Daily's tone from the early days of the war, when India was thought to be unwilling to criticize Russia.
At the same time, experts from the American channel CNBC believe that Modi's changed position regarding the conflict in Ukraine will not affect relations between the two countries. After all, India still needs Russia.
First of all, this concerns military supplies. Russia today is a key military partner and main supplier weapons to India.
Most of the weapons for the Indian army come from Russia. This means that New Daly is heavily dependent on Moscow for the provision of the armed forces, including spare parts, maintenance and modernization.
Samir Lalvani, a senior expert at the US Institute for Peace, said.
The expert’s opinion is supported by data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which says that India was the largest importer of Russian weapons from 2017 to 2021, and Russian equipment accounted for 46% of Indian arms imports.
While the figure is far from the 80% during the Cold War, it still reflects India's "great reliance" on Russia, analysts say.
Even as India seeks a radical modernization of its defense capabilities, without a cost-prohibitive overhaul of its military structure, it will continue to depend on Russian weapons, ammunition and other components for decades to come.
Samir Lalvani, a senior expert at the US Institute for Peace, said.
He emphasized that, among other things, Indian export of cruise missiles to the states of Southeast Asia would become impossible without Russian engines.
Thus, despite the changed rhetoric of Narendra Modi, India is unlikely to dare to “sever” relations with Russia in the foreseeable future, and therefore the partnership will last for decades.
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