‘Russia unable to meet the commitments they’ve made to India amid Russia-Ukraine war’, stated IAF.
Russia has failed to fulfil the promises or obligations it made to India. ‘It has not been able to follow through on their commitments to Indian Air Force due to Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine’, an IAF official told the Indian Parliamentary Committee in New Delhi. This could be a potential threat to the relationship between India and Moscow.
Moscow is the largest exporter of defence systems for India and has raised concerns about the impact of any potential deterioration in the relationship between the two countries.”The committee panel was informed by IAF that the scheduled delivery from Russia for this year will not take place.” This was the first official shortfall confirmation by Indian Air Force.
According to the data from SIPRI, Russia exported worth $8.5 billion out of $18.3 billion of arms to India since 2017. India bought five, S-400 Triumf Air Defence Systems for $ 5.4 billion in 2018 of which three have been delivered and two are still awaited.
India’s Sukhoi and MIG-29 fighter jets heavily depend on Russia for the supply of spare parts, which has raised concerns about the country’s ability to maintain its combat readiness in case of any disruptions in the supply chain.
Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the supplies get affected. Hence, the estimated capital expenditure on modernisation for the upcoming financial year gets reduced by nearly 33% compared to the previous fiscal year. The Indian Air Force estimated $10.38 billion of capital expenditure for the fiscal year 2022-2023 whereas it had represented $7.15 billion of Capex in the National Budget presented last month.
Vladimir Putin’s statement regarding the necessity of increased military spending and the development of new weapons systems has raised concerns both domestically and internationally. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, had been complaining about his mercenaries not getting enough ammunition in their extended fight for the eastern town of Bakhmut, promoting Putin’s directive.
This all is happening at a time when India has been looking to reduce its dependence on defence weapons from Moscow. In recent years, India’s Imports from France, the US and Israel Moscow have increased.
In addition, PM Narendra Modi-led government has emphasised the importance of producing defence weaponry domestically as part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission.’