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The politics of diplomacy is never all black or white. India buys oil from Russia because of discount rate, but has also pivoted away from using hi-tech Russia

The politics of diplomacy is never all black or white. India buys oil from Russia because of discount rate, but has also pivoted away from using hi-tech Russian weaponry in favor of US & Israeli arms. Until 2 decades ago, India's defense & industrial backbone was Soviet. Currently, its mostly American/Allied western sourced. US-India have a much higher dollar value of defense & bilateral trade than India-Russia traditionally had in the past. Also they both are members of Quad alliance with Japan & Australia against China. The world is becoming slowly multipolar. There are no two sides anymore. There is US-Russia, Sino-Russia, Indo-Chinese, Sino-American conflicts of interests. In addition to US, India & China have considerable impact on geopolitics - both economic & military. India has been acknowledging Russian misadventures as dangerous, with Modi giving a clear rebuke recently. However, I think the polity is cautious going too far in chorus. Relationships are built over decades & fickleness of US political theater doesn't really help making such costly international decisions. Let's assume US decides to screw over India with sanctions over Kashmir. Would they like to come to grinding halt because a sitting US president thought it was a great idea? Because that's what happened in Pakistan slowly after 9/11. They were military ally with US, but publicly shunned in following years because Pakistan was not clearing the bars set by Bush & Obama administration, despite a lot of sincere effort from the government machinery. No one wants the same fate as Pakistan. Think of India as another Saudi Arabia. They are thick buddies with US on many matters, but India wouldn't necessarily toe the line, just like S Arabia won't pump more oil to keep American gas prices stable. What they do is their business

missedthecue 4y ago
What weapons systems does India import from the US? I cannot think of any off-hand. But I do know India just bought the S-400 system from Russia, they developed the BrahMos in close coordination with the Russians, the bought naval fighter aircraft from Russia for their aircraft carrier in 2017, they also bought attack helicopters from Russia the same year. They are leasing a nuclear submarine since 2017 from Russia, and as recently as 2011 they were buying tanks from Russia. I think the general decline in Indian arms imports from Russia since in the 1980s has nothing to do with the US and more to do with India building their own equipment domestically, such as their new rifles, new main battle tanks, naval ships, artillery systems, and even now their own helicopters.
- testrun 4y ago
  I agree, the second reason is that India is also buying French equipment.

missedthecue 4y ago

What weapons systems does India import from the US? I cannot think of any off-hand. But I do know India just bought the S-400 system from Russia, they developed the BrahMos in close coordination with the Russians, the bought naval fighter aircraft from Russia for their aircraft carrier in 2017, they also bought attack helicopters from Russia the same year. They are leasing a nuclear submarine since 2017 from Russia, and as recently as 2011 they were buying tanks from Russia. I think the general decline in Indian arms imports from Russia since in the 1980s has nothing to do with the US and more to do with India building their own equipment domestically, such as their new rifles, new main battle tanks, naval ships, artillery systems, and even now their own helicopters.

testrun 4y ago
I agree, the second reason is that India is also buying French equipment.