India has a lot of Russian weapons, but is unlikely to sell them back – military expert Katkov

He said this on Espreso TV. 

“According to various estimates, Soviet-Russian military equipment, gear, and ammunition account for 60% to 85% of India's armament. For the Kremlin, New Delhi is one of the largest customers in arms purchases. India has been buying everything from Russia: airplanes, tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, submarines, anti-ship missiles, helicopters, air defense systems, and a joint venture to produce AK-203 assault rifles was specially built in India. In other words, the defense capability of the Indian armed forces, which have a large number of 1.2 million people, is guaranteed by Soviet or Russian weapons. India is one of the most dependent countries in the world on Russian weapons,” the military expert said.

Oleh Katkov added that, accordingly, questions arise: how to continue to maintain, modernize, get spare parts and ammunition for these systems from Russia? India is in a situation where its armed forces are turning into a 'pumpkin' and all equipment is scrapped in the medium term.

“Can the Russian Federation take weapons from India? Most likely, the answer will be no, because India is not in a position to sell weapons for export. By the way, I don't remember a single military contract when India exported anything, because on the contrary, it only accumulated weapons because of problems, for example, with China or the highland region of Ladakh or Pakistan. Accordingly, India is definitely not in a position to sell or transfer weapons, especially in the face of Western reaction. Moreover, India is trying to distance itself from Russian weapons, for example, the contract with Russia for Mi-17 helicopters was terminated, but some joint projects continue to be launched,” Katkov said.

• On March 23, a representative of the Indian Air Force said that a large arms shipment from Russia was planned for this year, but due to Russia's aggression in Ukraine, it will not take place.

• On April 22, Bloomberg reported that the sale of Russian weapons to India had stopped due to US sanctions.