Russia Plans to Expand Military-Technical Cooperation With India

The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has learned of Russia’s plans to expand military-technical cooperation with India.

This was reported to Militarnyi by sources in the DIU.

According to the intelligence, in particular, the fourth meeting of the working subgroup of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on military and military-technical cooperation is scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg from September 15 to 18.

Over the course of four days, the Indian and Russian delegations are going to develop and agree on action plans for bilateral military cooperation between Russia and India in 2025-2026. In particular, the meeting will discuss defense cooperation, military training, and joint military exercises.

The talks will take place at the Central Naval Museum in St. Petersburg. Despite the complete secrecy of the planned event, Ukrainian intelligence has a detailed program of the meeting of the Russian-Indian commission, one of the points of which is “the Indian delegation’s visit to the Aurora cruiser.”

Military cooperation

Russia and India have long-standing and well-established military-technical cooperation. In particular, the basis of India’s tank fleet is T-72 and T-90, also the country has established licensed production of Su-30 fighters, as well as the Indian Navy purchases of Russian frigates.

As of today, Russia and India are jointly producing PJ-10 BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. Another joint project is Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited, which in 2019 began production of AK-203 assault rifles in India to fully rearm the Indian army.

In addition, Russia is trying to sell its ‘fifth-generation fighters’ Su-57 to India, offering, among other things, localization of production in India.

The contract to supply India with S-400 air defense missile systems is less successful. At the end of June 2025, Russia postponed the transfer of the last two batteries of the S-400 air defense missile system to India for the second time because of the war in Ukraine. The new deadline is 2026-2027.

The delays are caused, in part, by the losses of these systems as a result of Ukrainian strikes, as well as by the Russian army’s attempts to focus its air defense systems on intercepting Ukrainian drones that successfully hit military targets and oil refineries.

After the Russian invasion began, India became one of the main buyers of cheap Russian oil and also served as a ‘neutral jurisdiction’ used by Russian companies to circumvent sanctions.

Indian companies are also known to sell military goods to Russia, including explosives.