Overcoming US pressure
After the signing ceremony, Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in glowing terms of Indo-Russian relationship. Putin described it as unparallelled and Modi termed it unique.
The Trump administration had wanted India to scrap the proposal to buy the Russian missile system and to stop purchase of crude from Iran from November.
Alluding to the waiver given to India when the last US administration imposed sanctions against Iran, Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton had told media persons some time ago, “This is not the Obama administration”.
Ahead of the Putin visit, India lobbied for waivers and sought to reassure Washington that the Russian contacts will not compromise operational secrecy of US military equipment.
While the US has not announced any waiver so far, India is going ahead also with purchase of crude from Iran, which has been one of its major sources of oil since long.
Quoting industry sources, the Russian news agency Sputnik said the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation, which had planned to buy about 0.75 million metric tons of Iranian oil every month during the year ending March 2019 was importing the usual quantity.
It also said Indian refiners had placed a contract for 1.25 million metric tons of crude, to be delivered next month. As Iran gives India a short credit, payment will be due only two months later. Since a second set of US sanctions will come into force before that India has arranged with Iran to receive payment in rupee instead of US dollar.
The US had offered to make good India’s oil shortage resulting from stoppage of purchases from Iran. But, citing traders and the French shipping intelligence company Kpler, Sputnik said India bought from the US only 64,000 barrels per day last month as against 347,000 bpd in June.
The US imposed sanctions against Russia and Iran under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act passed by Congress last year. The law targets North Korea too.
While signing the bill into law, Trump had said it was “significantly flawed” as it restricted the executive branch’s authority by limiting its flexibility in foreign policy matters.
The Putin-Modi meeting was the 19th annual Indo-Russian summit. This has served as a major forum for sustaining the warm relationship forged before the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was India’s major source of military hardware.
India-Russia defence cooperation continued in the post-Soviet period and has led to acquisition and joint development of weapons and equipment. The modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, which the Indian Navy acquired in 2013, start of work on first India-built aircraft carrier INS Arihant and development of BrahMos supersonic missile are among its major achievements.
It was at the 17th summit held in 2016 that India agreed to buy the S-400 Triumf air defence system. This decision has now been firmed up through a formal agreement.
At that meeting the two countries had agreed also on a project to construct four frigates, one to be built in Russia and the other three in India. It was also decided to set up a tripartite joint venture of a Russian export firm, Russian Helicopters and the Indian public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to manufacture 200 light utility helicopters for the Indian army. There is no word on the fate of these projects.
After defence, the most importnt area of Indo-Russian cooperation is that of nuclear power production. Two units of the Koodamkulam plant in Tamil Nadu, built with Russian help, have been completed, despite strong objections from the local population on grounds of safety and environmental protection. But a three-year-old proposal for Russia and India to collaborate in building a nuclear plant in Bangladesh appears to be in cold storage.
One of the agreements signed at the latest summit envisages Indo-Russian cooperation in space exploration.
All these point to continued Indian cooperation with Russia in sensitive areas, notwithstanding the Modi government’s pursuit of strategic defence partnership with the US.
Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat outlined India’s approach in a speech on Sunday: “While we may be associating with America in getting some technologies from them, we follow an independent policy.”
Russia is keen to boost economic cooperation with India as well. Last year India participated in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum as a guest member. Putin has invited Modi to be the chief guest at an investment conclave planned at Vladivostok to boost economic development of Russia’s far eastern region. --Gulf Today Sharjah, October 9, 2018.
BRP Bhaskar
The emerging strategic partnership with the United States and Washington’s threat to impose sanctions did not deter India from signing an agreement with Russia to buy a $5.43 billion missile system during President Vladimir Putin’s visit last week.
After the signing ceremony, Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in glowing terms of Indo-Russian relationship. Putin described it as unparallelled and Modi termed it unique.
The Trump administration had wanted India to scrap the proposal to buy the Russian missile system and to stop purchase of crude from Iran from November.
Alluding to the waiver given to India when the last US administration imposed sanctions against Iran, Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton had told media persons some time ago, “This is not the Obama administration”.
Ahead of the Putin visit, India lobbied for waivers and sought to reassure Washington that the Russian contacts will not compromise operational secrecy of US military equipment.
While the US has not announced any waiver so far, India is going ahead also with purchase of crude from Iran, which has been one of its major sources of oil since long.
Quoting industry sources, the Russian news agency Sputnik said the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation, which had planned to buy about 0.75 million metric tons of Iranian oil every month during the year ending March 2019 was importing the usual quantity.
It also said Indian refiners had placed a contract for 1.25 million metric tons of crude, to be delivered next month. As Iran gives India a short credit, payment will be due only two months later. Since a second set of US sanctions will come into force before that India has arranged with Iran to receive payment in rupee instead of US dollar.
The US had offered to make good India’s oil shortage resulting from stoppage of purchases from Iran. But, citing traders and the French shipping intelligence company Kpler, Sputnik said India bought from the US only 64,000 barrels per day last month as against 347,000 bpd in June.
The US imposed sanctions against Russia and Iran under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act passed by Congress last year. The law targets North Korea too.
While signing the bill into law, Trump had said it was “significantly flawed” as it restricted the executive branch’s authority by limiting its flexibility in foreign policy matters.
The Putin-Modi meeting was the 19th annual Indo-Russian summit. This has served as a major forum for sustaining the warm relationship forged before the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was India’s major source of military hardware.
India-Russia defence cooperation continued in the post-Soviet period and has led to acquisition and joint development of weapons and equipment. The modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, which the Indian Navy acquired in 2013, start of work on first India-built aircraft carrier INS Arihant and development of BrahMos supersonic missile are among its major achievements.
It was at the 17th summit held in 2016 that India agreed to buy the S-400 Triumf air defence system. This decision has now been firmed up through a formal agreement.
At that meeting the two countries had agreed also on a project to construct four frigates, one to be built in Russia and the other three in India. It was also decided to set up a tripartite joint venture of a Russian export firm, Russian Helicopters and the Indian public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to manufacture 200 light utility helicopters for the Indian army. There is no word on the fate of these projects.
After defence, the most importnt area of Indo-Russian cooperation is that of nuclear power production. Two units of the Koodamkulam plant in Tamil Nadu, built with Russian help, have been completed, despite strong objections from the local population on grounds of safety and environmental protection. But a three-year-old proposal for Russia and India to collaborate in building a nuclear plant in Bangladesh appears to be in cold storage.
One of the agreements signed at the latest summit envisages Indo-Russian cooperation in space exploration.
All these point to continued Indian cooperation with Russia in sensitive areas, notwithstanding the Modi government’s pursuit of strategic defence partnership with the US.
Army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat outlined India’s approach in a speech on Sunday: “While we may be associating with America in getting some technologies from them, we follow an independent policy.”
Russia is keen to boost economic cooperation with India as well. Last year India participated in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum as a guest member. Putin has invited Modi to be the chief guest at an investment conclave planned at Vladivostok to boost economic development of Russia’s far eastern region. --Gulf Today Sharjah, October 9, 2018.
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