Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, under the pressure of the United States and Western countries, many countries and international organizations have begun to impose sanctions on Russia, but India has continued to import Russian energy and weapons, which has greatly eased the pressure on Russia. The United States or Western countries feel very dissatisfied.
The Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar, who visited Australia recently, felt this kind of dissatisfaction once. We all know that Russia is now the target of all Western countries. At the press conference, reporters will of course ask about topics related to Russia, especially the very unusual energy, economic and military cooperation between India and Russia. Some Western reporters asked Jaishankar if India would reduce its engagement with Russia because of the Ukraine crisis. weapons dependence and reconsidering relations with Russia.
Jaishankar’s answer was very straightforward, showing the attitude that a foreign minister of a major country should have. Jaishankar said that India would not stop its energy and weapons cooperation with Russia, and he also gave two reasons:
First, India has a large inventory of Russian-made weapons, which require technical support and maintenance from Russia. Second, India is separated from the colonies. The United States and Western countries have basically not provided India with any decent weapons for decades. If it leaves Russia’s support, the Indian army will face a situation where there are no weapons available.
It sounds like Jaishankar’s words are somewhat willful, and it is not true that the US and Western countries do not fully support India’s equipment construction. In the current Indian army, there are a lot of Western weapons, but what Jaishankar said is not completely wrong. As the world’s largest arms exporter, the United States seldom provides India with advanced offensive weapons. The F-16 fighter upgrade plan and F-35 fighter construction plan launched by the United States and its allies have not been brought to India. But Russia is different. Russia can be said to be very generous in selling weapons to India. Russia has provided India with almost all the equipment of the army, navy and air force.
After the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the cooperation between the two countries has not been affected. India has now begun to receive Russia’s S-400 air defense missile system. Recently, Russia is still negotiating with India about the export of the Tu-160 bomber. It is absolutely impossible for Western countries to supply India with a big killer of this level, so India has absolutely no possibility of giving up on Russia.
In fact, the United States and the West are reluctant to support India’s military development, and there is another core reason, which is that he does not want to see an overly powerful India. As we all know, India is the only big country in South Asia in terms of geographical location. Except for Pakistan, there is almost no country in the surrounding area that can resist India. The ideal of the Indians is to become a powerful regional country. If India takes the The advanced weapons of the United States have completely defeated Pakistan and become the hegemon of South Asia. If the Indian Ocean becomes the “Indian Ocean” again, it will seriously threaten the hegemony of the United States.
In fact, in the strategic planning of the Americans, India is a pawn to contain China and Pakistan. This is also the main reason why the United States actively sells various advanced weapons to Pakistan instead of selling advanced offensive weapons to India. In addition, there is another factor that in the eyes of Westerners who think highly of themselves, a former colony like India is still backward and barbaric in nature. But from the point of view of values, they do not have much interest in accepting India, while Russia and India are completely different, they have always maintained a very friendly and equal relationship, and it is this attitude that is exchanged for India’s trust in Russia.