Narendra Modi "Vestnik Kavkaza" Over the past three years the United States has supplied $5.4 billion worth of arms to India, becoming the largest supplier of arms to the country, ahead of Russia. India spent $4.2 billion on Russian products during this period. The third and fourth-largest suppliers of arms to India were France and Israel. However, an informed source in the Indian industry told Itar-Tass that Russia is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of the total volume of military-technical cooperation with India. He explained that the direct supply of arms is only a part of this cooperation, which consists of "joint projects, licensed production of Russian equipment in India and service contracts on the already supplied and produced licensed technologies." The volume of projects between India and Russia is worth 20 billion dollars up until 2020 and is likely to expand. The head of the Russian sector of the Asia Institute of Strategic Studies, Boris Volkhonsky, believes that trade cooperation between the countries is hindered by infrastructural problems and an absence of direct land routes. "When we talk about diamonds, high-tech and pharmaceutical products, these products have a high value in relation to their weight, so they can be transported by air. But when we talk about products of the earth, in particular in light of [anti-Western] sanctions [by Russia] applying to fruit from Europe, India could substitute for them. But how will they be delivered? They'll go bad. There is the issue of borders: relations with China, relations with Pakistan and Afghanistan."According to Volkhonsky, economic and political issues go hand in hand: "The problem of relations between India and Pakistan is a question to be dealt with on a bilateral basis. Of course Russia is interested in an amelioration of relations between India and Pakistan for many reasons. Firstly, these are two nuclear countries, and conflicts between them are dangerous for the whole world. Secondly, these two countries have a lot of influence on Afghanistan, which has always depended and will depend on them even more after the withdrawal of troops in late 2014."Note that the new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was considered one of the key potential allies in Moscow's confrontation with the United States and the West. By the way, the other day he issued a new law under which officials are now required to use Hindi and not English. Meanwhile, according to Volkhonsky, the attitude towards Modi in the world is quite ambiguous: "There were fears that relations with the Muslim world, with China will worsen, but so far it is too early to judge about it and give any comprehensive assessment of the first steps of the new government. It seems to me that the main thing that Narendra Modi has demonstrated is that he is a very pragmatic politician, that he is ready to improve relations, especially with his neighbors. It was a very unconventional step when he invited the Pakistani Prime Minister and the President of Sri-Lanka - countries with which India does not have good relations - to his inauguration."Among economic projects connecting Russia and India, Volkhonsky mentioned "a section of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the south through Afghanistan. There are no problems on the territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan except for relations between India and Pakistan, but in terms of logistics there is nothing that prevents extending this railway direction to India. There is also the TAPI gas pipeline (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India), in which Gazprom is a participant. There is the "North-South" transport corridor project, which was initiated a long time and hasn't been moving forward that quickly. It seems to me that to solve a great number of issues of trade cooperation it is necessary to solve infrastructural issues. To address these infrastructural issues, the political situation in the center of this region has to improve."The head of the Center of Indian Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Tatyana Shaumyan, believes that Russian-Indian cooperation in the BRICS framework is very important for Russia: "The first appearance of the new Prime Minister of India at a BRICS meeting was very important. I think, for us, for India and, of course, China, Brazil and South Africa, BRICS is a significant framework for cooperation. Today, when BRICS is transitioning from general conversations to real projects, it becomes very promising. The economic aspect is now starting to come forward including banks and currencies. Now some transactions between Russia and China are already made in national currencies. This trend will continue. After some time the dollar will cease putting pressure on the entire world and being the only payment currency that can be used between countries. I think that the use of local currencies in the framework of BRICS has a great future."
"Vestnik Kavkaza"
Over the past three years the United States has supplied $5.4 billion worth of arms to India, becoming the largest supplier of arms to the country, ahead of Russia. India spent $4.2 billion on Russian products during this period. The third and fourth-largest suppliers of arms to India were France and Israel. However, an informed source in the Indian industry told Itar-Tass that Russia is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of the total volume of military-technical cooperation with India. He explained that the direct supply of arms is only a part of this cooperation, which consists of "joint projects, licensed production of Russian equipment in India and service contracts on the already supplied and produced licensed technologies." The volume of projects between India and Russia is worth 20 billion dollars up until 2020 and is likely to expand.
The head of the Russian sector of the Asia Institute of Strategic Studies, Boris Volkhonsky, believes that trade cooperation between the countries is hindered by infrastructural problems and an absence of direct land routes. "When we talk about diamonds, high-tech and pharmaceutical products, these products have a high value in relation to their weight, so they can be transported by air. But when we talk about products of the earth, in particular in light of [anti-Western] sanctions [by Russia] applying to fruit from Europe, India could substitute for them. But how will they be delivered? They'll go bad. There is the issue of borders: relations with China, relations with Pakistan and Afghanistan."
According to Volkhonsky, economic and political issues go hand in hand: "The problem of relations between India and Pakistan is a question to be dealt with on a bilateral basis. Of course Russia is interested in an amelioration of relations between India and Pakistan for many reasons. Firstly, these are two nuclear countries, and conflicts between them are dangerous for the whole world. Secondly, these two countries have a lot of influence on Afghanistan, which has always depended and will depend on them even more after the withdrawal of troops in late 2014."
Note that the new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was considered one of the key potential allies in Moscow's confrontation with the United States and the West. By the way, the other day he issued a new law under which officials are now required to use Hindi and not English. Meanwhile, according to Volkhonsky, the attitude towards Modi in the world is quite ambiguous: "There were fears that relations with the Muslim world, with China will worsen, but so far it is too early to judge about it and give any comprehensive assessment of the first steps of the new government. It seems to me that the main thing that Narendra Modi has demonstrated is that he is a very pragmatic politician, that he is ready to improve relations, especially with his neighbors. It was a very unconventional step when he invited the Pakistani Prime Minister and the President of Sri-Lanka - countries with which India does not have good relations - to his inauguration."
Among economic projects connecting Russia and India, Volkhonsky mentioned "a section of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the south through Afghanistan. There are no problems on the territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan except for relations between India and Pakistan, but in terms of logistics there is nothing that prevents extending this railway direction to India. There is also the TAPI gas pipeline (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India), in which Gazprom is a participant. There is the "North-South" transport corridor project, which was initiated a long time and hasn't been moving forward that quickly. It seems to me that to solve a great number of issues of trade cooperation it is necessary to solve infrastructural issues. To address these infrastructural issues, the political situation in the center of this region has to improve."
The head of the Center of Indian Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Tatyana Shaumyan, believes that Russian-Indian cooperation in the BRICS framework is very important for Russia: "The first appearance of the new Prime Minister of India at a BRICS meeting was very important. I think, for us, for India and, of course, China, Brazil and South Africa, BRICS is a significant framework for cooperation. Today, when BRICS is transitioning from general conversations to real projects, it becomes very promising. The economic aspect is now starting to come forward including banks and currencies. Now some transactions between Russia and China are already made in national currencies. This trend will continue. After some time the dollar will cease putting pressure on the entire world and being the only payment currency that can be used between countries. I think that the use of local currencies in the framework of BRICS has a great future."
