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Russian troops, warships in India soon? Why their new military pact matters
In a significant pact, India-Russia agree to the deployment of soldiers, warships on each other’s soil, further deepening their bilateral partnership.
New Delhi, India – Two of the world’s biggest militaries, Russia and India, have made their most substantive defence pact yet, allowing them to station soldiers and aircraft on each other’s territory.
The Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) bilateral agreement, which was signed last year and is now operational, facilitates the countries’ use of each other’s military bases, naval ports, and airfields during peace and wartime.
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This deepening of Russia-India ties, especially in the defence sector, comes amid a series of global wars that have roiled the world’s economy, in the shadow of US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable policymaking, impacting millions in New Delhi and Moscow.
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The logistics support pact also sets the framework for a wide range of services, including refuelling, repairs, and supplies for warships and aircraft. In short, the agreement, analysts said, streamlines servicing of Russian military hardware that already makes up the majority of India’s inventory.
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Now, the agreement gives Russia groundbreaking access to the Indian Ocean, and, in turn, New Delhi can access ports along the northern sea route from Vladivostok to Murmansk. These are critical to safeguard against global supply disruption, analysts say.
It gives the sides unrestricted access to the partner’s infrastructure and provides for reciprocal limited military presence on each other’s territory,” Kortunov said. “It enhances power projection and military outreach capabilities for the two sides.”
Currently, Russia does not have any military bases or other infrastructure in the Indian Ocean, noted Kortunov. “This pact helps Moscow to gain such capabilities,” he added.
Amitabh Singh, an associate professor at the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told Al Jazeera: “For Moscow, RELOS is less of a wartime alliance than a sanctions-era sort of mobility pact.”
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“The strategic value for Moscow is having this operational range now, where Russian ships and aircraft can stay deployed longer in the Indian Ocean region, and even nearby sea lanes,” Singh said. “From Moscow, the Indian Ocean, which has turned into a theatre of action recently, is a faraway world geographically.”
“The agreement also helps Russia signal that it still has meaningful partnerships in Asia,” he added.
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“It adds a functional layer of interoperability that India did not previously have with Russia, thus bringing the bilateral relationship closer,” Malhotra said, adding that the pact provides New Delhi with “access to Russian facilities in the Arctic and far East, where Russia is a critical enabler”.
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But amid mounting US and European pressure – particularly US President Donald Trump’s decision to slap an additional 25 percent trade tariff on India for buying Russian oil last year – India has looked to diversify its defence and energy supplies, ramping up purchases from the West. All the while, it has continued with its delicate balancing act to maintain ties with Russia as well.
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Since Trump returned to the White House in January last year, relations with New Delhi have suffered on multiple fronts, ranging from India’s foreign policy to punishing tariffs.
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Andrey Kortunov, from the Russian International Affairs Council in Moscow, told Al Jazeera that the RELOS agreement is not essentially directed against the United States. “But it is a signal to Washington that America cannot take India for granted,” he added.
“Given signs of transactionalism in US foreign and economic policy, RELOS reinforces India’s strategic autonomy,” said Ajai Malhotra, former Indian ambassador to Russia.
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The RELOS agreement is also “about future-proofing India’s strategic space, by providing an added degree of flexibility in a scenario where global alignments continue to churn and become more unpredictable,” said Malhotra.
24.04.2026
Aljazeera