Image source: topwar.ru
India has an impressive fleet of Soviet and Russian military equipment. The country's troops are armed with 7 Russian-made submarines, more than 250 multi-purpose Su-30MKI aircraft, a similar number of Mi-8/17 helicopters, almost 70 MiG-29 fighters and more than 1,200 T-90 tanks. To this should be added a huge number of Russian small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems.
All this equipment requires constant supplies of spare parts from the Russian Federation. Against this background, New Delhi is forced to look for ways to circumvent US sanctions against the Russian defense industry.
As noted in the Reuters edition, the Indian authorities could not agree with Moscow on a new settlement procedure: they were confused, allegedly, by the inflated value of the ruble, while the Kremlin was concerned about the volatility of the rupee. As a result, New Delhi's debt increased to about $3 billion by May, which is why the Russian side notified its partner about the suspension of military supplies, including S-400 air defense systems. Eventually, the countries agreed on the transition to a new payment system.
Now the Ministry of Defense of India will make transactions through the Russian equivalent of SWIFT – the financial message system SPFS of the Bank of the Russian Federation. At the same time, rubles should act as a means of settlement, and rupees should act as a reserve currency. For New Delhi, this will allow restoring supplies from Russia, which accounts for 60% of Indian military imports.
In addition, it was decided to strengthen the defense partnership of the two countries, and Moscow promised to increase investments in the local military-industrial complex within the framework of the "Made in India" program. At the same time, the Russian side voiced its dissatisfaction with the formation of the QUAD group (India, Australia, Japan and the United States) directed against China, and called the West's use of the Taiwan issue a provocation.
