India Prime Minister, Narendra Modi met Rusia President, Vladimir Putin on December 13th, 2021 to extend their bilateral military relationship for the next 10 years until 2031. Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the discussion has been productive which 28 agreements in total were signed from the dialogue.

The meeting happened hours after both secretaries of defense and ministers of foreign affairs held a strategic dialogue to discuss strengthening the relations between India and Russia. Besides agreeing on firearms cooperation, they also talk over several issues such as politics, energy, and space security which involve a lot of ministries and organizations from both states. The annual summit has been very progressive, in addition to weapon cooperation, they also discuss the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

The agreement will substitute locally-made rifles.

According to the Indian Ministry of Defense, one agreement will substitute rifles with more modern one. Shringla also added that during the week that Russia has already started delivering its long-range S-400 surface-to-air missile defense systems to India on the back of a deal the two countries signed in 2018. “S-400 is a legacy contract going back to 2018. Supplies have begun and will continue to happen.

The agreement of long-rang S-400 air missile with Moscow puts India at risk of sanctions from Washington which New Delhi has been reminded by the US to stay away from Russia’s military agreement. The US United States threatens India with Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). CAATSA was signed by the US president in 2017 which prevent countries to sign a military agreement with Moscow.