Over
$2 billion worth of payments from India to Russia for weapons systems have been
stuck
in limbo for around a year. New Delhi has been unable to use U.S. dollars
due to fears about retaliatory sanctions from the West, and Moscow has refused
to accept Indian rupees. This has India's air force the most, as it depends on
a steady supply of Russian-made vehicles. This development, however, has not
shifted Russia from being India's top supplier of weapons even though the
purchases have slowed in the last few years due to sanctions.
But
why is Russia the top supplier for India?
India
has been a customer of Moscow since
the 1960s during the Cold War. Their relationship was largely reliant on
steady arms sales from the USSR to India, which was an important leader of the Non-Aligned
Movement, and India was an important balance in the USSR & India vs.
US, Pakistan, & China dynamic during much of the Cold War period. The
USSR's disintegration at the end of the Cold War weakened its position, but
Russian arms exports to India still remained a fundamental part of the two
countries' relationship.
The
damage done to the arms trade between India and Russia may or may not be
permanent. If the West wants to seize the opportunity to draw India away from
Russia (which may be made difficult due to India's massive
increase in importing Russian oil), it must act now and expedite various
programs, such as improving
India's industrial base and building closer relations between New Delhi and
Western capitals.
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