The defence ties between Moscow and New Delhi, including military-to-military and industrial cooperation, will be in focus during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's two-day official visit to Russia, beginning on Sunday.
During the visit, Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov will co-chair the 21st meeting of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-M&MTC) in Moscow.
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The two leaders will review the entire range of multi-faceted relations between the two countries in the field of defence and exchange views on contemporary regional and global issues of mutual interest, a release from the defence ministry stated.
Commissioning of ‘INS Tushil’
During his visit, Singh will also commission the Indian Navy’s latest multi-role stealth-guided missile frigate ‘INS Tushil’ at Yantra Shipyard, Kaliningrad on Monday.
Tushil has been constructed in Russia as part of an over $2.5-billion deal that India signed with the country in 2016 for four stealth frigates for the Indian Navy. Upon commissioning, INS Tushil will join the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy and will rank amongst the most technologically advanced frigates in the world. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi will accompany the defence minister for the commissioning ceremony.
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Besides, Singh will pay tributes at ‘The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ in Moscow to honour the Soviet soldiers killed during the Second World War. The defence minister will also interact with the members of the Indian community.
India-Russia defence ties
Russia has been a major supplier of military platforms and hardware to India for the last seven decades. Over the years, guided by the Agreement on the Programme for Military Technical Cooperation signed between India and Russia, the military cooperation between the two countries has evolved into one of joint research, design development and production of state-of-the-art military platforms, as evidenced by the production of Brahmos cruise missile.
The defence ministers of the two countries meet annually, alternately in Russia and India, to discuss and review the status of ongoing projects and other issues of military and military-technical cooperation.
