Re: India-Russia: News & Analysis
Posted: 11 Mar 2018 00:59
Simple, Trump can ignore Russia, the madman does not have that luxury.
Consortium of Indian Defence Websites
https://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/
65Muppalla wrote:How old is Putin. He is one with fit health to lead Russia more and more years.
‘China and Russia are quasi allies … On strategic affairs Russia and India have serious conversations only at top level’The evolving Russia-China relationship appears to be of concern to India. How do you see it, and how will it affect India?
India has to understand that by virtue of both history and geography China is our closest neighbour. We have to have good relations with them. Our relationship with India is not dependent on our relationship with China. We have to think differently. We have to build bigger relations with China but this would be balanced positively by others. At this juncture you (India) have a tense relationship with China, but being so preoccupied with China is not very healthy – just like we were preoccupied with the US. We have a closer relationship with China, we are more involved in international affairs, (and) it’s very different from what it used to be 10-15 years ago.
The India-China relationship is fraught with tension. What if Russia is asked to make a choice?
We understand the difficulties and differences in your systems. China is becoming a more complex and sophisticated society. We have to give history a chance, in spite of our ideological anxieties. Act calmly.
If you need help from Russia as an intermediary, we could help. But we will not take sides. We will not jeopardise Russian interests for either China or India. We think that the fact that you are hostile to one another is an aberration. The sooner you solve it, the better. Thirty-forty years ago there was deep distrust between Russia and China, including a territorial dispute. Now, because of the wisdom of our peoples, the Russia-China border is most peaceful.
Some would say Russia is almost a younger sibling to China.
We are quasi allies right now, because the United States has chosen to contain both Russia and China, which is a strategic failure by the US. We also have a lot of common interests. Russia cannot be a junior brother to anybody and has never been so – from the heirs of Genghis Khan to Napoleon and Hitler, we have defeated them all.
The India-Russia relationship is confined to governments, how would you broaden it?
We should have common courses between Indian and Russian universities, open up our economies to each other – our $7 billion trade is an aberration. We should open up people-to-people contacts – there is only goodwill on either side. There are some members of the Russian elite who are fearful of China – not too many, but some. But there is none of that with India. On strategic affairs, for instance, we have serious conversations – but all this only at the top level. It doesn’t go deeper in the two systems.
In 2018, what would you say are top Russian foreign policy priorities?
Our top priority is Russia’s internal development – this is important for both our strategic and foreign policy. We’re good at diplomacy and good at military power and international manoeuvring but we have a relatively weak economic base, which is a longer term problem.
Our most important foreign priority would be keeping peace in the world – very important for Russia, and also because the global situation is worse than at any time in decades.
Second, building a robust relationship with China based on concept of greater Eurasia. Third, rebuilding our relationship with Europe, not on the previous basis which failed but on a new footing. Next in geographical terms would be India – because our relations with India are clear and there are unused opportunities that have been missed in the last 30 years.
How would you characterise the Russia-Pakistan relationship?
Pakistan is an important player, we want to be involved, have a relationship with them. But they are not in the same category as China or India.
Is Russia supporting Taliban in Afghanistan?
We are playing a very complicated game – sometimes we support somebody, sometimes we help somebody else. Taliban is also different. When we saw the US going in with ground troops we were aghast. That was a disaster. Now it’s different – we want it to be confined to Afghanistan’s borders. If needed we will support Taliban, if needed, we will support anti-Taliban forces. But they should not spread the ‘Afghan disease’ or terrorism disease to the neighbouring areas, be that India or central Asia. For the time being we don’t want US troops to leave Afghanistan – their withdrawal would create more problems. We understand that unlike India or China, they don’t have a vested interest, they don’t want to lose face. But for us it’s a huge national security issue.
Vladimir Putin secures record win in Russian presidential election
Putin wins 76.6% of vote with 67% turnout amid accusations of vote rigging and monitor abuse
Andrew Roth in Moscow
Mon 19 Mar 2018 Vladimir Putin addresses the crowd during an event to mark the anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, after voting closed on Sunday. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images
Vladimir Putin is set for another six years in power after winning a record victory in Russia’s presidential election, despite opposition activists highlighting a number of cases of vote rigging.
Final results released on Monday morning showed Putin had won his fourth presidential term with 76.6% of the vote, his highest score ever.
The total number of ballots cast on Sunday for Putin, who has spent 18 years as Russia’s most powerful politician, exceeded 56.2m in overnight counting. That was a record total, even discounting the nearly 1m votes he gained as a result of the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Putin 4.0: as Russian president prepares for fourth term, what next?
Speaking at an event to mark the anniversary of the annexation on Sunday night, Putin told crowds in Manezhnaya Square, just under the Kremlin walls: “Thank you for your support … Everyone who voted today is part of our big, national team.”
Putin’s most serious rival, the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was barred from the race. The Central Election Commission said on Monday that the communist candidate, Pavel Grudinin, came second with 11.8% of the vote, and third was the ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky (5.6%). The only candidate to openly criticise Putin during the campaign, the liberal TV star Ksenia Sobchak, won 1.6%.
Putin has never faced a serious threat to his rule since he came to power on the eve of the new millennium. He won 53% of the vote in the 2000 presidential election, 71% in 2004 and 63% in 2012.
Turnout at the elections on Sunday was more than 67%, the commission reported. The Kremlin had initially sought a 70% share of the vote with 70% turnout, but was said to have lowered its expectations as the election drew closer.
About 10 million more Russians voted for Putin on Sunday than in 2012, when he appeared on the defensive after mass voter fraud at parliamentary elections sparked protests in Moscow and other large cities.
Perhaps the most surprising result came from Moscow itself, where Putin won just 47% of the vote in the 2012 elections. On Sunday, he took 70% of the capital city, one of the main bastions of the opposition.
Russian voters go to the polls – in pictures
The opposition pointed to video evidence of voter irregularities at a number of polling stations across Russia. They included ballot stuffing and attacks on some vote observers, as well as reports of ballots being cast by “dead souls”, people who have died but remain on the electoral rolls.
In one video shared online from the Siberian region of Yakutia, voters patiently queued behind a man shoving ballots into the voting urn.
Turnout is usually highest in the North Caucasus, where a machine of administrative support regularly pushes turnout, and vote share for Putin, above 90%. In Dagestan, an election monitor said he was beaten by a crowd of several dozen men. During the encounter, turnout at his polling site jumped significantly.
One polling place in Chechnya, where observers managed to remain until the end of voting, showed just 35% turnout. In others, it was close to 100%.
The Kremlin had pushed a broad get-out-the-vote campaign before the elections, apparently concerned that Putin’s popularity might not be enough to get voters to the polls. Incentives included raffles for prizes including iPhone Xs and cars, as well as festivals scheduled on 18 March to mark the anniversary of the Crimean annexation (last year the Duma changed the 2018 election day to coincide with the date).
On Sunday night, Putin’s campaign chairman declared turnout to be high, and needled London by suggesting that it may have been a rally-round-the-flag response by voters to the accusations of Russian involvement in the nerve agent attack on a former spy in the UK.
“Right now the turnout numbers are higher than we expected. We need to thank Great Britain for that because once again they did not consider the Russian mentality,” the chairman said. “Once again we were subject to pressure at just the moment when we needed to mobilise.”
Vladimir Putin: 'Nonsense' to think Russia would poison ex-spy before election - video
There were also examples of more traditional forms of coercion, with widespread reports of directives from factory bosses, school principals, and the army, for employees who rely on government salaries to take part in the elections.
The previous election record was set by Dmitry Medvedev in 2008, who won 52.5m votes with just under 70% turnout.
Topics
Haha haha.bahdada wrote:Exit polls are iffy. Sputnik/RT comisaar says let's not jump to conclusions.
As Putin secures another term in the Kremlin, what’s next for Alexei Navalny and the Russian opposition
Sunday’s elections show Kremlin’s divide-and-rule tactics are working
Oliver Carroll Moscow
EU to accelerate trade deal with Mexico, Japan in response to Trump
Life for the Russian opposition has never been easy, but Sunday’s election was an unmitigated disaster. Credible claims of fraud aside, Vladimir Putin can confidently claim his vision of an exceptionalist, reactionary state was endorsed by the majority of the voting public.
And that poses an existential question to those left fighting against his rule.
These were not real elections, of course. With state media egging on the main candidate and insulting the rest of the hand-picked field, only Mr Putin stood a chance. But according to official figures, less than 5 per cent of votes went to the liberal “opposition” candidates – the celebrity Ksenia Sobchak, the veteran dissenter Grigory Yavlinsky and the “representative from business” Boris Titov.
READ MORE
Inside the real Russia: What ordinary citizens really think of Putin
Alexei Navalny, the most credible challenger who was forced to sit the election out, called for a boycott. The final result – with exaggerated figures for the incumbent – suggested that his strategy, too, had backfired.
On the night of the election, the sense of disarray was compounded with an angry exchange between Mr Navalny and Ms Sobchak live on air. He rejected her offer to join forces and accused her of being paid to discredit the opposition. “You have shown yourself to be the champion of hypocrisy,” he said.
A day later, Mr Navalny addressed criticism of his stance by posting a video of his rival where she seems to accept the defeat of Russia’s liberal agenda.
“To the commentators who suggested I was harsh with Ksenia, watch this, and go to hell,” he wrote.
In contrast, loyal Kremlin cheerleaders were ecstatic.
READ MORE
No immediate further sanctions on Russia over Salisbury spy poisoning
EU president Juncker wishes Vladimir Putin ‘every success’
Putin’s election team says Skripal allegations ‘mobilised nation’
“We don’t want to live like [the West] anymore,” declared Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the state-funded RT network. “Before [Putin] was our president, now he is our national leader.”
Mr Putin’s emboldened administration wasted little time getting back to work.
On Tuesday, state regulators demanded Telegram, an instant messaging service, hand over backdoor keys to users’ secret messages within 15 days. The social network issued a defiant response, but could now be blocked. A little later, state prosecutors requested a nine-year prison colony sentence for Yuri Dmitriev, an anti-Gulag activist controversially accused of child ***** offences. There had been hope the charges would be thrown out. And then Oleg Navalny, Alexei’s brother, controversially imprisoned in 2015, was moved to a harsh solitary detention cell. His crime? Sitting at a table after curfew.
Mr Navalny’s supporters insist they have not become disillusioned by the result. Close ally Vladimir Ashurkov, now exiled in London, said it was “better to concentrate on the positive aspects of the campaign”.
READ MORE
Putin’s election team says Skripal allegations ‘mobilised nation’
“We knew the opposition was not strong enough to take an autocratic regime head on, and there was a lot of debate in our group whether we would even get this far,” he told The Independent. “But when I first met Navalny in 2010, he was working in a tiny office with three lawyers. Now we have a media empire, a national network of offices, volunteers, and recognition in Russia and abroad.”
Mr Navalny’s team is now focussed on “building agility and strength”, in anticipation of a future opportunity, Mr Ashurkov said. “However stable it looks, the current system is growing increasingly fragile, and it faces many challenges. At some point there will be a crisis that will inevitably lead to political liberalisation. We are preparing for this moment.”
Voices nearer the government were dismissive of such a prospect.
“Navalny didn’t realise how weak he was,” said Andrei Kolyagin, a spin doctor and former Kremlin adviser. “He thought he was in some pre-revolutionary moment, but he didn’t listen to advice and he didn’t do the sociology – that would have told him less than 3 per cent of the population supported his boycott.”
The success Mr Navalny has enjoyed among critical voters will probably be seen as historical, said Mr Kolyagin. With personalities like Ms Sobchak and the Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin now in the frame, there is now any number of “opposition figures” to choose from. “Provided the state continues to engage with this opposition, and develop it, Navalny will find it difficult to break through on his own,” said the former Kremlin adviser.
Mr Ashurkov said it was unlikely the Navalny camp would reconsider its decision not to join forces with Ms Sobchak.
“Never say never, but my view is that you need partners who are close to you in values or are strong, who bring something to the table,” he said. “Ksenia currently fails on both counts.”
Ms Sobchak’s 4 per cent result in Moscow showed that his man remained the stronger candidate, Mr Ashurkov added. Mr Navalny won 27 per cent in mayoral elections in 2013, nearly forcing a run-off with the Kremlin’s choice, Sergei Sobyanin.
The inability of the Russian opposition to unite under pressure is, of course, not a new story. In 1995, free market liberals Yegor Gaidar and Grigory Yavlinsky famously “agreed” to unite forces after a night of negotiations and a bottle of brandy – only for Mr Yavlinsky to deny it a few hours later. This became a pattern in Mr Yavlinsky’s later political career.
“It’s much easier to unite when you are winning,” said the independent political expert Maria Lipman. “When a cause is lost from the start, all the differences – political and personal – come to the fore.”
READ MORE
Navalny: Don’t be fooled, I’m still Russia’s best hope to oust Putin
The odds certainly remain stacked against Mr Navalny. With only a fraction of the state’s repressive apparatus turned on, his movement remains at the mercy of the those in the Kremlin. The authorities made it through election day without reverting to arrests, but that is no guarantee they will not turn up the pressure in the future.
Mr Ashurkov said he had “no illusions” about his own personal security, even while based in London. “Any person who opposes a corrupt and repressive regime has reason to worry. None of us are in any doubt that the Russian security services are capable of another Skripal-like operation.” The Kremlin has denied being behind the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
Given the hostile “tiger and mouse” conditions they face, Mr Navalny and his team have already achieved a lot, says Ms Lipman.
“No one else has managed to build a network of young supporters who have stayed loyal despite the risk of violence, arrest and worse,” she said.
“But having created the network, and rallying it around a presidential campaign that was never to be, the question remains: now what?”
I am starting on the mcmafia series on amazon prime. interesting cast of worthies.Austin wrote:Putin is just a face for the current system in Russia , the real power in Russia rests with the Silovik group , These are ex security official from KGB , SVR and FSB that are at various institution that has been built around them since 99 when Putin first came to power and much like US they have their own Deep state that keeps things moving irrespective to who is in power.
Apart from the attempt to conclude the impending S-400 air defence system deal, Sitharaman is also expecting to move forward discussions on proposed bilateral collaboration on the development of a fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA). There will also be talks on spare parts, maintenance, upgradation and ammunition for Russian-made defence systems. She will also participate in the Moscow international security conference.
The two countries are currently in negotiations for Moscow’s assistance on a high-speed railway project between Nagpur and Secunderabad, besides Russian technology for river transportation utilising India’s vast river network. These issues were discussed when Russian Transport Ministers met his counterparts here. River transport is a cheaper mode of connectivity than road. Yet another emerging area of cooperation is IT and IT solutions. Nasscom signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian counterpart Russoft last Monday for projects in India and third countries.
Meanwhile, in a bid to boost bilateral trade to $30 billion by 2025, Russia has asked Indian startups to play the role of catalysts to bring large Indian companies and Russian investors closer. The two governments have agreed to give high priority to the removal of obstacles to trade in order to improve upon the 21.5% growth in two-way trade recorded last year, according to Russia's deputy minister for economic development Alexey Gruzdev, who also visited Delhi earlier this week.
US and EU expel scores of Russian diplomats over Skripal attack
US orders expulsion of 60 officials as 14 EU member states plus Ukraine announce coordinated response to nerve agent poisoning
Julian Borger and Patrick Wintour
Mon 26 Mar 2018
The US and EU have expelled dozens of Russian diplomats in response to the nerve agent attack in the UK.
The US has ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian officials who Washington says are spies, including a dozen based at the United Nations.
EU members Germany, France and Poland are each to expel four Russian diplomats with intelligence agency backgrounds. Lithuania and the Czech Republic said they would expel three with Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands expelling two each.
Ukraine, which is not an EU member, is to expel 13 Russian diplomats and Canada four.
The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning, and Russia responded by ejecting the same number of British diplomats.
Russia promised it would take reciprocal action against Washington. It said the UK had not presented a single fact proving that Moscow was behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
The Russian consulate in Seattle is also being closed as part of the US’s package of punitive measures. A senior US official said that the consulate closure and the expulsions would be carried out “in solidarity with our closest allies” in reaction to what he said was “a reckless attempt by the [Russian] government to murder a British citizen and his daughter with a military grade nerve agent”.
A second official said the measures were also intended as a response to a “steady drumbeat of destabilising and aggressive actions” by Moscow against the US and its allies.
The officials being expelled from the US include 48 in the Russian embassy in Washington and 12 at the Russian mission at the UN, who the US say are spies, engaged in “aggressive collection here in the US”.
US officials said that the spies at the UN were abusing their residence privileges under the UN headquarters agreement. They added that there were over 100 Russian spies in the US and the expulsions would significantly reduce Russian espionage capabilities in the country. The expelled Russians have seven days to leave the country.
“With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences,” the White House said in a written statement. “The United States stands ready to cooperate to build a better relationship with Russia, but this can only happen with a change in the Russian government’s behaviour.”
However, Donald Trump did not comment himself on Twitter, his usual form of expression on issues he feels strongly about. At the time officials were briefing reporters about the US measures, the president put out a tweet saying: “So much Fake News. Never been more voluminous or more inaccurate. But through it all, our country is doing great!”
It was not clear what reports Trump was responding to, but the tweet came at a time when a ***** star, Stormy Daniels, was dominating national headlines with her latest interview about an affair she said she had with Trump, and the pressure she came under to cover up the relationship.
While other members of his administration have spoken out strongly against Russia, in particular for its interference in the 2016 US election, Trump has avoided saying or tweeting anything critical of the Kremlin, and congratulated Putin on winning an election generally seen as unfree and unfair.
White House officials had initially been reluctant to attribute direct blame to Moscow, in the days following the Skripal attack, but a senior administration official said on Monday that the nature of the Russian response to UK allegations held led to the definitive US conclusion that the Kremlin was responsible.
“Russia has had nearly a month to respond but instead of explaining has engaged in the usual obfuscation we have seen in the past,” a US official said, noting that Moscow had put out a series of conflicting stories and attempted to put the blame on others, including the US.
EU heads of state concluded last week that it was highly likely the Russian state was responsible for the attack. The EU is also looking at coordinated steps to rein back Russian hybrid warfare.
The European Council president, Donald Tusk, said 14 EU states had expelled Russian diplomats in response to the attack, adding that “additional measures including further expulsions are not excluded in coming days, weeks.”
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was expected to win the support of her newly formed coalition government to take practical action, even though over the weekend many prominent German politicians called for a rapprochement with Russia, including a suggestion that Putin be invited back to summits of the G7. Russia was expelled from the premier assembly of western economies following the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but still attends the G20.
The divisions within the EU were highlighted by a split at the top of the EU bureaucracy. Tusk said he was in no mood to congratulate Putin on his re-election as Russian president, but the commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, sent Putin a note of strong congratulations.
The EU called its ambassador to Moscow for consultations over the weekend.
The UK defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, visiting British troops in Estonia, said the backing for Britain was in “itself a defeat for President Putin”.
Theresa May will report back to MPs on Monday on her efforts to garner international support for an uncompromising approach to Russia. On Wednesday, the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee will hold a special evidence session designed to consider what further steps the government could take to restrict the movement of Putin-linked Russian money in London.
In an attempt to stave off diplomatic expulsions in the US, the Russian embassy in Washington urged the Americans to rein in Downing Street. “In these days, a younger partner needs inspiration and help from over the ocean based on wise restraint,” the embassy said.
TODAY'S NEWSPAPER
S-400 AIR DEFENCE, N-SUB TOP MIN’S RUSSIA AGENDA
Monday, 26 March 2018 | Rahul Datta | New Delhi
S-400 air defence, N-sub top Min’s Russia agenda
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s plate will be full when she arrives in Moscow on her maiden visit to Russia in the first week of April. Her priorities will include speeding up the process to ink the S-400 air defence system, exploring the possibility of buying another nuclear powered submarine and ironing out problems of delay in the supply of critical spares by Russian manufacturers to the Indian Armed forces thereby hampering operational preparedness.
India and Russia in principle had agreed to ink the deal worth over four billion dollars for five S-400 systems in 2016. However, talks between the two Defence Ministries have not yielded desired results and Sitharaman is expected to urge her Russian counterparts to resolve the outstanding issues.
Incidentally, China had signed a similar deal with Russia for S-400s three years back for ten systems and has already started getting the first batch.
The S-400 system can track an incoming missile or aircraft from a distance of more than 350 km and then knock down the incoming aerial platform with a plethora of missiles and rockets. The IAF urgently needs this state-of-the-art system as its current air defence systems are outdated.
Besides this deal, the Defence Minister will also explore the possibility of procuring another nuclear powered submarine from Russia for the Indian Navy. It is already using one such submarine INS Chakra on a lease for ten years and needs another such submarine for operational purposes, sources said here on Sunday.
The current Russian submarine was acquired four years ago to enable the Indian Navy to train its personnel for operating the indigeneously built nuclear powered submarine INS Arihant.
Four more submarines of Arihant class are now in various stages of construction and induction of second Russian nuclear powered submarine will help the navy to hasten the process of training, sources added.
Apart from these two big ticket items, Sitharaman will discuss the issue of shortage of critical spare parts for Russian made weapons and equipment used by the Indian Armed forces. Shortage and delays in supply of spares hamper the operational preparedness and this issue had time and again cropped up during talks between officials of two countries besides the political leadership.
For long Russia has remained India’s most trusted and time tested strategic ally. More than 70 per cent of weapons inventory in India is of Russia and erstwhile Soviet Union origin. However, of late the USA has emerged as the biggest defence supplier to India in the last one decade.
Russia is keen to regain the top spot and will offer more state of art tanks and infantry weapons to India during Sitharaman’s visit, officials said.
The Indian Army urgently needs armoured personnel carriers for its infantry besides modern rifles and close quarter battle weapons. Russia will offer its vast inventory to India, sources said.
The two sides will also discuss to further enhance military to military co-operation between the two countries. For the first time last year, two countries held a joint exercise of three services. Earlier, this annual drill used to be held separately for all the three services namely Army, Air Force and Navy.
Mort Walker wrote:India needs to slowly dump Russia as its weapon systems have been proven to have low availability and reliability. Russia’s GDP in relation to India is steadily declining, low birth rates and declining life expectancy. Outside of a few key items, Russia offers nothing for India. Even China, an adversary of India, offers far more in terms of trade and commerce.
TODAY'S NEWSPAPER
S-400 AIR DEFENCE, N-SUB TOP MIN’S RUSSIA AGENDA
Monday, 26 March 2018 | Rahul Datta | New Delhi
S-400 air defence, N-sub top Min’s Russia agenda
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s plate will be full when she arrives in Moscow on her maiden visit to Russia in the first week of April. Her priorities will include speeding up the process to ink the S-400 air defence system, exploring the possibility of buying another nuclear powered submarine and ironing out problems of delay in the supply of critical spares by Russian manufacturers to the Indian Armed forces thereby hampering operational preparedness.
India and Russia in principle had agreed to ink the deal worth over four billion dollars for five S-400 systems in 2016. However, talks between the two Defence Ministries have not yielded desired results and Sitharaman is expected to urge her Russian counterparts to resolve the outstanding issues.
Incidentally, China had signed a similar deal with Russia for S-400s three years back for ten systems and has already started getting the first batch.
The S-400 system can track an incoming missile or aircraft from a distance of more than 350 km and then knock down the incoming aerial platform with a plethora of missiles and rockets. The IAF urgently needs this state-of-the-art system as its current air defence systems are outdated.
Besides this deal, the Defence Minister will also explore the possibility of procuring another nuclear powered submarine from Russia for the Indian Navy. It is already using one such submarine INS Chakra on a lease for ten years and needs another such submarine for operational purposes, sources said here on Sunday.
The current Russian submarine was acquired four years ago to enable the Indian Navy to train its personnel for operating the indigeneously built nuclear powered submarine INS Arihant.
Four more submarines of Arihant class are now in various stages of construction and induction of second Russian nuclear powered submarine will help the navy to hasten the process of training, sources added.
Apart from these two big ticket items, Sitharaman will discuss the issue of shortage of critical spare parts for Russian made weapons and equipment used by the Indian Armed forces. Shortage and delays in supply of spares hamper the operational preparedness and this issue had time and again cropped up during talks between officials of two countries besides the political leadership.
For long Russia has remained India’s most trusted and time tested strategic ally. More than 70 per cent of weapons inventory in India is of Russia and erstwhile Soviet Union origin. However, of late the USA has emerged as the biggest defence supplier to India in the last one decade.
Russia is keen to regain the top spot and will offer more state of art tanks and infantry weapons to India during Sitharaman’s visit, officials said.
The Indian Army urgently needs armoured personnel carriers for its infantry besides modern rifles and close quarter battle weapons. Russia will offer its vast inventory to India, sources said.
The two sides will also discuss to further enhance military to military co-operation between the two countries. For the first time last year, two countries held a joint exercise of three services. Earlier, this annual drill used to be held separately for all the three services namely Army, Air Force and Navy.
This Spares problem (from the Russian side) is now going on for years and years. This seems to be a deliberate strategy from the Russian side. If you were to order the full system then voila no problem but when its comes comes to maintenance and spare parts the rip-off starts. One time it is mere happenstance, twice over it is a coincidence, but third time onwards it is by design.Ironing out problems of delay in the supply of critical spares by Russian manufacturers to the Indian Armed forces thereby hampering operational preparedness.
Ahh, diplomatic boycott, not a real one. Iceland, surely knows how to punch above its weight. Looks like the wounds from sanctions must be still fresh. Just found out that population of Ward G North of my municipal election area in Mumbai is more than population of Iceland.Anant wrote:Speaking of world cup,
https://www.rt.com/sport/422397-iceland ... fa-russia/
Might just be the start.
Russia is paying for her support to syria.rsingh wrote:US and EU expelling diplomates is over-reaction. Think world cup is gone.There is so much bad mouthing going on in western press. Gross provocation.
True , Its not unusal for Pentagon to admit they have lost in Syria on the record.chetak wrote:Russia is paying for her support to syria.rsingh wrote:US and EU expelling diplomates is over-reaction. Think world cup is gone.There is so much bad mouthing going on in western press. Gross provocation.
There is really no need for so many disparate and unconnected countries to get involved in the expelling diplomats game.
The amreki deep state is showing its fangs once again.
According to the complaint, the airline allegedly offered alternative connections to the United States to other American passengers with light skin.
The Indian American passengers were then given a choice to “go back to India” on a later flight or be “deported” to India by Russian officials because they did not have transit visas, according to the complaint. Under Russian law, the passengers could only remain in the country for 24 hours without visas.The American passengers called the US embassy in Moscow, but the officer at the embassy was not able to get through to Aeroflot, the complaint claims.“Although the officer on duty at the embassy repeatedly asked to speak with Aeroflot to correct the situation, Aeroflot employees refused to speak with him, instead reiterating their threat that the passengers would be deported and that if they did not return to India, Aeroflot would ‘make matters worse’ for them — including through criminal deportation and heavy fines.”One of the passengers recorded an incident with an Aeroflot employee, which he posted on Facebook, where the employee tells the group they will be deported “back to India.” In the video the family argues with the employee that they should be “deported back to America,” since they are American citizens.The employee storms away, but later returns with boarding passes for a flight to Delhi, The Independent reports.The five passengers eventually boarded the India-bound flight, “fearing for their safety and feeling that they had no other choice after Aeroflot’s repeated threats,” the complaint reads. About 20 other passengers who had traveled from India were forced to return as well.Once the family arrived in Delhi, they discovered there were no Aeroflot flights to New York for more than a week, The Independent reported.
A Russian airline forced five Indian American passengers to fly to Delhi, India instead of their original destination of New York because of their skin color, a racial discrimination complaint claims.
Aeroflot airlines staff reportedly threatened the group of US citizens, all of Asian descent, that they would be “deported” to India if they did not board the flight back to Delhi, The Independent reported.
The Americans were traveling from Delhi to New York on January 7, with a layover in Moscow, Russia. According to reports, their connecting flight to JFK International Airport was canceled because of heavy snow, leaving the group stranded.
They tried to book alternate flights, but were allegedly told by Aeroflot crew that no seats were available.
According to the complaint, the airline allegedly offered alternative connections to the United States to other American passengers with light skin.
The Indian American passengers were then given a choice to “go back to India” on a later flight or be “deported” to India by Russian officials because they did not have transit visas, according to the complaint. Under Russian law, the passengers could only remain in the country for 24 hours without visas.
The American passengers called the US embassy in Moscow, but the officer at the embassy was not able to get through to Aeroflot, the complaint claims.
“Although the officer on duty at the embassy repeatedly asked to speak with Aeroflot to correct the situation, Aeroflot employees refused to speak with him, instead reiterating their threat that the passengers would be deported and that if they did not return to India, Aeroflot would ‘make matters worse’ for them — including through criminal deportation and heavy fines.”
One of the passengers recorded an incident with an Aeroflot employee, which he posted on Facebook, where the employee tells the group they will be deported “back to India.” In the video the family argues with the employee that they should be “deported back to America,” since they are American citizens.
The employee storms away, but later returns with boarding passes for a flight to Delhi, The Independent reports.
The five passengers eventually boarded the India-bound flight, “fearing for their safety and feeling that they had no other choice after Aeroflot’s repeated threats,” the complaint reads. About 20 other passengers who had traveled from India were forced to return as well.
Once the family arrived in Delhi, they discovered there were no Aeroflot flights to New York for more than a week, The Independent reported.
Four of the five passengers spent thousands of dollars booking another flight on Qatar airlines to take them to the United States. The fifth flew back with Aeroflot six days later.
Each of the five missed several days of work or school. In a Facebook post, one wrote:
“I have lost a week of work (I will not be allowed to vacation this year) and faced tremendous mental stress. I have been flying for over 17+ years and never ever been harassed or treated this way.”
“Aeroflot’s behavior is appalling and beyond any justification,” Juvaria Khan, staff attorney at Muslim Advocates, the firm representing the passengers, told The Independent. “DOT must conduct a full and thorough investigation and hold Aeroflot accountable for its discriminatory actions and ensure that no other travelers endure this type of mistreatment.”
Aeroflot denied any discrimanatory practicies in a statement to The Independent:
"We clearly fell short of our customary high standards of service in this incident, which occurred more than two months ago, and indeed we contacted the passengers immediately afterwards to offer our apologies. However, our thorough internal investigation established that this was not a case of discrimination based on appearance, and we do not accept this characterization in the complaint."
The Russian airliner has previously been fined by American officials for violating US passenger protection rules.
Aeroflot did not return a request for comment.
The other curious thing for me is why now, maybe one of the gurus can educate me but I do not recall any diplomatic moves after Crimea annexation or when they supposedly downed the Malaysian airlines plane with hundreds on board.Austin wrote:True , Its not unusal for Pentagon to admit they have lost in Syria on the record.chetak wrote:
Russia is paying for her support to syria.
There is really no need for so many disparate and unconnected countries to get involved in the expelling diplomats game.
The amreki deep state is showing its fangs once again.
French , US and UK wanted regime change in Syria and intervention from Russia failed their plans so now taking the back door.
If Russia wanted to get rid of the spy who after 8 year after exchange would have zero value they could have taken him down in many ways not least in london and not before putin new term starts and football world cup , to give itself bad PR.
This looks like very well crafted, Fake News.Zynda wrote:This incident actually affects US-Russia relations more than India-US or India-Russia relations but since it seems like Aeroflot acts were probably based on skin color of Indians, this kinda shows their racist attitudes & discrimination policies. Back when we were poor grad students, many of us thought of booking flights to India via Aeroflot due to cheap ticket prices but actually stayed even in our condition. I don't know why any US citizen would go ahead and book Aeroflot for India-US travel unless it was on emergency basis & all other better routes were completely booked.
Russian airline sent American passengers to India instead of New York because of their skin color, complaint alleges