Opinion | India, Russia And The Su-57 Question: Why New Delhi Must Chart Its Own Course |
India’s reported move to begin discussions on purchasing Russia’s Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets and the advanced S-500 missile defence system, coinciding with President Vladimir Putin’s visit, has once again placed New Delhi at the centre of global strategic attention.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, continues to pressure India to scale back defence ties with Moscow. Yet India’s persistence in engaging Russia is neither surprising nor imprudent; rather, it is an assertion of strategic autonomy in a multipolar world where great-power competition increasingly seeks to draw nations into rigid camps.
For decades, India and Russia have shared what is formally termed a “special and privileged strategic partnership." This relationship is not merely ceremonial. Moscow has been the backbone of India’s military capability, from aircraft and tanks to submarines and missile systems, for over half a century.
Even though India has diversified its arms imports in recent years, the fact remains that more than two-thirds of currently operational platforms in the Indian armed forces are of Russian origin. The logic is simple: a country cannot abruptly rewrite decades of military architecture just because Washington prefers it to.
The Su-57 proposal highlights this practical reality.........