Modi to convey India's unease over Russia-Pak ties to Putin

The unease in New Delhi over recent Russia-Pakistan defence agreement will be conveyed to Moscow when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host Russian President Vladimir Putin for the annual bilateral summit here next week.

Though the first formal meeting between Modi and Putin are expected to further boost bilateral defence ties, New Delhi will seek a reassurance from Moscow that its recent military cooperation agreement with Islamabad would not hurt India’s core security interests.

The Modi-Putin meeting next week is expected to end the impasse over India-Russia joint projects for development of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft and Multi-role Transport Aircraft apart from exploring other programmes for co-production of military hardware.

Moscow has already proposed co-production of Russian choppers in India for the use of Indian Navy. The Kamov JSC and Russian Helicopters are exploring options for co-production with their counterparts in India their most advanced naval choppers, including the latest Ka-52Ks. New Delhi and Moscow are also expected to discuss the possibility of Russia leasing out another nuclear-propelled submarine to the Indian Navy.

Russia already leased out to India “K-152 Nerpa”, an Akula-class nuclear-propelled submarine, which was rechristened as “INS Chakra” and was inducted into Indian Navy on April 4, 2012.

But while New Delhi expects that the forthcoming annual summit would add momentum to bilateral defence ties, Modi is also likely to convey to Putin his government’s concerns over the implication of Russia-Pakistan defence agreement on security interests of India.