Putin Visit and India Russia Defence Cooperation: Underwhelming

Source Press Information Bureau of India

After weeks of hype over possibility of multiple defence sales agreements to be announced if not contracts inked during the Annual India and Russia Summit on December 05 in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the absence of any major declaration may seem underwhelming.

For the record there was a mention in the Joint Statement by the two leaders which had a separate section on Military and Military Technical Cooperation but included only standard reiterations as below-

Military and Military-Technical Cooperation has traditionally been a pillar of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia, which has grown from strength to strength through several decades of joint efforts and fruitful cooperation, steered by the IRIGC-M&MTC.

The Leaders welcomed the outcomes of the 22nd Session of the IRIGC- M&MTC held in New Delhi on December 4, 2025. Responding to India’s quest for self-reliance, the partnership is reorienting presently to joint research and development, co-development and co-production of advanced defence technology and systems.

The Leaders expressed satisfaction with regular military contacts, including the meeting of Defence Ministers in Qingdao in June 2025 on the sidelines of the SCO Member-States’ Defence Ministers’ Meeting. Both Sides appreciated the Joint Military Exercises INDRA of the Armed Forces and reaffirmed their commitment to maintain the momentum of joint military cooperation activities and expand military delegation exchanges.

Both Sides agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components, aggregates and other products for maintenance of Russian origin arms and defence equipment under Make-in-India program through transfer of technology and setting up of joint ventures for meeting the needs of the Indian Armed Forces as well as subsequent export to mutually friendly third countries.

Providing some addons, India’s Foreign Secretary Mr Vikram Misri in the post Summit media conference highlighted that “India - Russia defense and military technical cooperation remains robust. Russia also continues to support India's Make in India initiative in this domain including through joint production and technology transfer. This is also an area that was discussed between the two leaders”.

In response to a question on defence sales agreements by the media he said, “On your other question related to various defence platforms… I think you would be aware that yesterday evening, there was a meeting between the defence ministers of the two countries in the framework of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military and Technical Cooperation. I don't have the details or readout of that particular meeting, but I imagine that these issues that you referred to were discussed in that meeting. ….. And a lot of the focus was on, in fact, legacy cooperation between the two countries. But for the specifics, I think you would have to refer to the discussions yesterday that took place between the two delegations of the Ministries of Defence of the two countries”.

The specifics mentioned by the Foreign Secretary were not in the release on the 22nd India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military & Military Technical Cooperation Meeting in New Delhi on December 04 by the Ministry of Defence.

The Ministry of Defence Press Release was a normal reiteration of the homilies on co production and Russian support to India on Atma Nirbharta in Defence.  This is standard fare for such meetings as seen from past records.

At the same time, it should be noted that the “two Ministers signed the protocol of the 22nd IRIGC-M&MTC meeting highlighting the ongoing and prospective areas of cooperation,” which would have some of the areas of future military technical cooperation apart from other areas of enhancement of defence relations.

So what exactly transpired at the Summit and the Defence Minister’s Meeting?

Was there a deliberate underplaying of any defence procurements given the sensitivity of the US administration as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine which has now spread to Europe as well in the form of hybrid threat?

Were preparations inadequate for making profound announcements such as procurement of the Su 57, additional S 400 air and defence missile system or even the S 500 which some top former Indian commanders claimed will be coproduced in India. Suffice to say Indian defence manufacturing has not reached the stage where components of the highly sophisticated air defence system seen as on par with American Patriots can be produced in India.

Or was it a plain question of the defence industry supported by the large bubble of Indian media – mainstream, web based and social - rushing far ahead of the times.

What exactly happened will be known soon, however point to note that Annual Summits have generally never been about grandstanding major defence deals except for perhaps in 2018, when the S 400 deal was announced.

While it may be true that in the statement made in February after the meeting of Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi with President Donald Trump in Washington there was mention of the F 35 and other systems, in the India Russia context this has not been the norm.

There is no doubt however that India needs some advance weapons systems for which Russia maybe the sole provider such as the S 500, the time is not opportune for an agreement towards the same as Russia’s deep commitment in the War in Ukraine does not provide the slack to export to India. Same is the case with the S 400 and perhaps the Su 57 as well.

More over Russian record on transfer of technology  let alone IPR is very poor, thus any agreement if in the pipeline is likely to take time and not move at the pace of which the arms merchants will desire.

Despite pontifications over the past many years. Russia continues to control technologies for key assemblies such as motors and sensors for missiles and engines for combat aircraft.

The case of leasing of a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia is also curious. India is presently fielding two such subs in the Arihant class and a third one is likely to be inducted in 2026 or so thus obtaining a sub from Russia may be superfluous, but then the powers at the helm know better.

In sum, despite lack of a major announcement during the India Russia Annual Summit – the defence stack remains firm

Arms transfers from Russia are only likely to pick up after the end of the War in Ukraine for reasons varying from US/EU concerns to production constraints in the Russian defence industry amongst other factors.