India’s growing difficulties in sustaining a satisfactory defence relationship with Russia are no secret. Bits and pieces on the fraying Russian defence connection have often made it into the media. It took Admiral Sureesh Mehta, the chief of naval staff and chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, to reveal the extraordinary depth of the crisis. The leadership of the

Indian Armed Forces tends to be cautious in its public statements. Admiral Mehta’s decision to vent the frustrations of the services has not come a day too soon.

As one of the principal customers of the Russian defence industry, our Armed Forces have every right to expect a minimum amount of quality and reliability. Instead, what they get is unbelievable Russian callousness. After paying nearly half the cost — a whopping sum of US$500 million — for the refurbishment of the aircraft carrier Gorshkov, India is now being asked to pay more and wait longer. Russia’s unacceptable attitude on Gorshkov is especially shocking given the fact that without the large Indian contracts the Russian shipyards could not have survived the lean years after the Cold War. Now flush with unexpected riches from the oil boom, Russia thinks it is free to renege on the Indian contracts.

New Delhi is also aware of a Russian betrayal much larger than the Gorshkov episode. Russia has been transferring special military technologies, developed with

Indian money and for exclusive use by the Indian Armed Forces, to China’s Peoples Liberation Army. India is now in the unenviable situation of subsidising the Russian defence industry and facilitating Chinese military modernisation. The UPA leadership might want to be politically correct in swallowing the Russian double dealings. The defence forces, which are responsible for national security, cannot be expected to take this lying down. Just as it deferred to the Department of Atomic Energy in finalising the Indo-US nuclear deal, the UPA must now listen to the professional advice of the Armed Forces on reviewing military ties with Russia, building a modern domestic defence industry and rapidly diversifying arms imports.