New Delhi: The share of Russia in arms imports in India has come down from 69 percent in 2012-17 to 46 percent in 2017-21. This information was given in a report released on Monday by Sweden-based think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ‘SIPRI‘. Russia began its war against Ukraine on February 24, which has led to extremely harsh economic sanctions by the US and other Western countries. “Weapons imports into India declined by 21 percent between 2012-16 and 2017-21,” the report said.
Despite this, India remained the world’s largest importer of major arms in 2017-21 and accounted for 11 percent of total arms imports in the world during this period. The SIPRI report said that Russia was the largest supplier of major arms to India in the period 2012-16 and 2017-21, but Russian arms imports into India declined by 47 percent between these two periods, as Russian Many major programs for weapons were closed. The report noted that Russia’s share of total Indian arms imports fell from 69 percent to 46 percent, due to India’s increasing efforts to diversify its arms supplier base.
In contrast, India’s arms imports from France increased more than tenfold, making it India’s second-largest arms supplier in 2017–21. According to the report, India has extensive plans for arms imports due to mounting threats from China and Pakistan and significant delays in the domestic production of major weapons.
“The reduction in India’s arms imports is probably a temporary result of its slow and complicated procurement process as well as a change in suppliers,” the report said. Globally, Russia’s arms exports declined by 26 percent between 2012-16 and 2017-21, and its share in global arms exports declined from 24 percent to 19 percent. Russia gave major weapons to 45 countries in 2017-21.
The report noted that, unlike the US, Russia’s exports in 2017-21 were more focused on four countries – India, China, Egypt, and Algeria. These countries received 73 percent of the total Russian arms exports. According to the SIPRI report, “The overall reduction in Russian arms exports between 2012-16 and 2017-21 was almost entirely due to the reduction in arms exports to India (-47 percent) and Vietnam (-71 percent). ” Several arms export contracts signed over the past 10 years were completed by the end of 2021, although several large Russian weapons supplies are still pending, including eight air defense systems, four warships, and a nuclear-powered submarine.
