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weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defence sector,” the document reads.
In addition to receiving new assistance pledges from the Alliance, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with key Western partners and secured €300mn ($328mn) to purchase munitions for F-16 fighter jets and $500mn in military assistance from Canada. He also secured additional strategic air defence systems, including additional Patriot batteries donated by the US, Germany, and Romania; Patriot components donated by the Netherlands and other partners; and an additional SAMP-T system donated by Italy. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Wednesday that F-16 fighter jets are already being transferred to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands and will fly over Ukrainian skies this summer.
2.9 Modi in Moscow
On July 9, one day after Russia carried out a devastating missile strike against Ukrainian cities (hitting, among other things, a children’s hospital in Kyiv), India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Moscow on a two-day visit—his first in five years. While Modi criticized “the death of innocent children” in public remarks next to Vladimir Putin, and one planned session of talks was canceled, the Indian Prime Minister also “bear-hugged” Putin in what looked like a symbol of friendly relations between Russia and India—which earned criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
For Russia, Modi’s visit served the same goal as the visit of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban the week before: showcasing that Russia is not isolated politically and that leaders of countries maintaining friendly relations or even (in Orban’s case) alliances with the leading powers of the Western coalition backing Ukraine are willing to talk face-to-face with the Russian President in spite of Russia’s continued attacks on Ukrainian civilians. For India, the visit was most likely due to Russia’s growing reliance on China in terms of trade and diplomatic support—a concern that Modi knows part of the Russian elite also shares.
Prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia was an important arms supplier to India, but Russia’s share in Indian arms imports has been drastically reduced over the past two years due both to concerns over quality and Russia’s focus shifting to meeting the needs of its own army. However, India, which has in recent years engaged in several border clashes with China, is still buying equipment from Russia, which in turn is increasingly dependent on China for technology used by its arms industry. From this point of view, it is notable that it was First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, the overseer of the arms industry, who met Modi when he first arrived at the airport.
Russia’s state-owned nuclear company, Rosatom, is also active in India’s nuclear power sector. Trade between India and Russia surged to $65.7 billion in the last financial year, due to India sharply increasing its import of Russian oil and oil products that cannot be sold in the West. An agreement recently signed between Rosneft and the Indian Reliance Industries stipulates that
31 RUSSIA Country Report August 2024 www.intellinews.com