Today, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addresses the 2+2 dialogue between India and Russia. With Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu were also there.
“I had the chance to address in-depth the increasing problems that India faces, as well as India’s increased need for deeper military-to-military technological cooperation with Russia.” Since early summer of 2020, the epidemic, unusual militarization and weapons buildup in our neighborhood, and unprovoked attack on our northern border have thrown in various problems,” stated defense minister Singh.
During the bilateral meeting, a few important decisions were made. Both countries renewed Military Technology Corporation Agreement for more than 10 years till 2031. They also signed a deal to manufacture AK-203 assault rifles. 6.1 lakh AK-203 will be manufactured with an estimated price of 5,000 crores. This deal was struck for a very long time due to the high cost of each rifle. This rifle will be manufactured by Indo-Russian Rifle Private Limited (IRRPL) at Korwa, Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
Russia will also start delivering the S-400 Air Defence System and it will start arriving here in India in the next 10 days, senior defense officials said. The estimated cost of this deal is 39,000 crores. Two teams of the Indian Air Force are also getting training for operating this Air Defence System. One team will be deployed in North-West India and will be expected to get operational within the next 2 months.
“Our ties have been close and time-tested. In a world that has changed so much, they have been exceptionally steady,” said External Affairs Minister.
Earlier, S. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh also held one-to-one meetings with Shoigu and Lavrov separately. This bilateral meeting was conducted just a few hours before the arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be arriving in New Delhi for the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit. This annual summit was launched back in 2000 during the time of Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
