Sanctions against Russia will not affect Indian defence sector: NITI Aayog

New Delhi: NITI Aayog member Dr VK Saraswat claimed ‘Russia has phenomenal defence capability; it is self-sufficient in the field of defence manufacturing. Therefore, the sanctions imposed by the western countries on Russia will not affect the Indian defence capabilities. Russia is the most significant defence exporter for India. Besides, India and Russia have signed many defence-related agreements over the last few years. Against this background, Dr Saraswat’s statement becomes significant.

The United States and its allies have imposed harsh sanctions against Russia following the attack on Ukraine. This includes the defence sector and the related industry. Thus, Dr Saraswat was questioned against this background. He expressed confidence that the Indian defence sector would not be affected by these sanctions while answering the question. At this time, he assured regarding the capacity of the Russian defence sector and related industries. The NITI Aayog member said that the Indian defence sector would not be affected as the Russian defence sector is self-sufficient.

Dr Saraswat, who has headed the DRDO, valuable to the Indian defence sector, also pointed to the steps initiated by the Indian government for indigenisation. DR Saraswat reminded that the Indian government has encouraged indigenous industry and defence equipment and has made huge provisions for the purpose.

International thinktank SIPRI also said that India has reduced its import of defence equipment by 33% between the period 2011-15 and 2016 and 2020. The United States is still threatening India to impose sanctions to purchase the S-400 air defence system from Russia. There is hardly any possibility of the threat realising. But through this, the United States is warning India not to purchase weapons and defence systems from Russia. But the US lawmakers and senior officials have pointed out that more than 60% of the Indian defence equipment is from Russia and India cannot scrap this defence cooperation. But the Biden administration is not paying any heed to this.