Dy PM to lead team to India
Driven by concern, perhaps, as India increasingly turns towards other countries to meet its defence requirements, Russia is sending a high-powered delegation comprising heavyweights from its defence industry to New Delhi this week.
The delegation will be led by Dmitry Rogozin, Russian deputy prime minister who is also co-chairman of the Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission on military-technical, trade, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation. The 16-member delegation will also have senior officials dealing with economic and business issues reaches New Delhi on Tuesday for a day long visit. Syria is expected to figure in the discussions too between the two sides with Russia so far having effectively blocked any UN action in the country by vetoing along with China UN resolutions to this effect.
Over the decades, Russia had come to occupy the primary position in terms of the arms and armaments that it used to provide to India. However, its primacy in recent years is being gradually chipped away as India increasingly turns to other countries to meet its defence needs including that for spare parts.
While India inducts Russian weapons worth around $ 1.5 billion from Russia annually, countries like Israel, US and France are threatening to end Russia’s long-standing virtual monopoly in the Indian market. There is further cause for concern for Moscow as Russia appears to be losing out at a time when India is willing to spend and is actively procuring defence equipment from other countries.
During his short visit, Mr Rogozin among whose responsibilities is to determine what policy Russia will have with regard to international military technical cooperation will be meeting PM Manmohan Singh. He will also be meeting external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and defence minister A.K. Antony.
At present, bilateral defence projects are worth an estimated $15 billion and Russia remains India’s biggest defence supplier. However, India has been increasingly looking at the international market to meet its need for spares and even maintenance even for equipment supplied by the Russians, having failed to ensure their regular and timely availability from them, said sources. Among the members of the delegation accompanying the Russian deputy PM will be Alexander V. Fomin, director of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation and Alexey A. Aleshin, first deputy director-general of Rostechnologii State Corporation.
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