US seeks to woo India as key defence accomplice with $500 million army assist, scale back Russian weapon dependence

Amid the Russia-West tussle over the previous’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States has determined to cut back its dependence on Moscow’s weaponry and interact with India to deepen safety ties with it.

The US is making ready a army assist bundle for India, individuals accustomed to the matter informed Bloomberg. The bundle would come with overseas army financing of $500 million. This would make India one of many largest recipients of such assist, behind Israel and Egypt. The precise particulars of the deal are but to be introduced.

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The proposal comes amid US President Joe Biden’s effort to court docket India as a long-term safety accomplice. The West has usually implored India to slam Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, however New Delhi has stood agency on its stance to press for dialogues between the 2 nations to resolve the disaster.

An administration official mentioned that Washington goals to be seen as a dependable accomplice for India. The US is working with different nations, together with France, to verify Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities has the defence tools it wants. “While India is already diversifying its military platforms away from Russia, the US wants to help make that happen faster,” the official mentioned.

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“The major challenge remains how to provide India major platforms like fighter jets, naval ships and battle tanks and we are looking for a breakthrough in one of these areas,” the official mentioned. The financing bundle being proposed wouldn’t precisely meet the necessities for these techniques as they’ll value billions of {dollars}, however it might be a “significant symbolic sign of support”.

India’s External Affairs Ministry did not instantly react and Officials on the State Department and US embassy in New Delhi declined to remark.

India is the most important shopper of Russian weapons. In the final 10 years, India has bought over $4 billion price of army tools from the US and greater than $25 billion from Russia, based on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which collects information on arms transfers.

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The growth (of the army assist bundle) at a time when numerous international locations need to interact with India as a key safety accomplice, particularly towards China within the Indo-Pacific area. PM Modi is scheduled to take part in a summit with US President Biden subsequent week in South Korea. The assembly will embody leaders from the Quad, a partnership between the US, India, Japan and Australia that has drawn criticism from China. PM Modi can even participate within the Group of Seven (G7) assembly in Germany subsequent month.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)