INDIA TODAY

APLN Senior Research Adviser Frank O’Donnell was quoted in India Today, where he commented that Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Russia reflects India’s effort to convince Moscow that it can achieve greater strategic autonomy from Beijing by forming a closer partnership with India.

Frank O’Donnell, Non-resident Fellow of the Stimson Center’s South Asia Program, says that PM Modi’s visit to Russia reflects India’s ongoing effort to persuade Russia that Moscow can attain greater strategic autonomy from Beijing and avoid a close Sino-Russian partnership that locks in Russian dependence on China by partnering more closely with India. “This Indian strategic goal has new urgency given the scale and speed of the intensifying Sino-Russian partnership,” he says.

“Given the risk of US sanctions on substantive new India-Russia defence deals and perennial Indian concerns with the quality and timely delivery of Russian equipment, observers should view defence technology cooperation emerging from Modi’s visit as wrapping up of legacy projects (such as the S-400 and frigates) as well as expedient solutions to pressing shortfalls (such as the AK-203s),” says O’Donnell. However, he points to the reality that a vast majority of Indian military equipment remains of Russian/ Soviet origin, and Russia’s historic support for technology transfer to India is reinforced by a defence industrial base in India geared toward producing Russian equipment.

The full article can be accessed here.