India, Russia fail to sign long-awaited RELOS, a major military logistics agreement

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Russia comes to an end without the two nations signing the long-awaited Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS).

The elaborate visit with a grand welcome and informal meeting of Modi with his counterpart Vladimir Putin falls short of advancing in significant areas of military engagement. Experts were expecting the RELOS agreement to formally come into effect during this visit, the draft of which Russia has already prepared.

RELOS is simplified logistical support for military operations between Russia and India, including military exercises, training, port calls, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief efforts.

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Despite long-standing military ties between the two nations, India had already signed a similar agreement with the US way before in 2016. Some see India as a hesitant partner to sign the RELOS agreement with Russia, due to the back-channel diplomatic pressure from the US.

Once signed, the RELOS agreement will be valid for five years and automatically renewed unless either country decides to terminate it.

RELOS agreement can be a game-changer for Indian Navy

The biggest winner of RELOS would have been the Indian Navy, which would get access to Russian military facilities in the Arctic. With its economy largely dependent on agriculture, India will be impacted by the climate change around the Arctic, rising sea levels, and the monsoon pattern. The sea level in the Arctic has been declining at a rate of 13 per cent per decade.

The melting of the Arctic ice will also open new shipping routes and redraw the global sea trade map.

India is already aiming to develop the International North-South Corridor with Moscow and link it to the Arctic to build trans-Arctic shipping routes and decrease shipping costs.

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Experts see RELOS as beneficial to both countries as it would aid the Russian Navy operating in the Indian Ocean Region as well.

There's still a lot of room to explore in India-Russia defence ties. India’s only big-ticket defence acquisition from Russia has been S-400 long-range surface-to-air missiles. While three squadrons of the missiles have been delivered, the remaining two squadrons have been delayed following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

(With inputs from agencies)