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| Indo-Russian BrahMos Missile (File Photo) |
By ZACHARY FRYER-BIGGS and VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
WASHINGTON AND NEW DELHI — The Obama administration’s threatened sanctions against the Russian defense sector, raised by US officials March 20, would likely have little impact on the US armed forces, for whom Russian goods make up a tiny fraction of arms purchases.
But for US allies who would likely face US pressure to follow suit if sanctions are imposed, Russia is a critically important supplier.
Russia is the world’s second largest exporter of arms, trailing the US, but far ahead of others. What makes its defense sector different is its extraordinary reliance on a few big clients to provide the vast majority of purchases.
According to research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released this month, half of Russia’s arm sales over the past five years went to two countries: India and China. Many other countries to which Russia sells, such as Syria, wouldn’t likely be swayed by US efforts to limit Russian sales. China, which accounted for 12 percent of Russia’s sales over that period, also would likely ignore any US overtures toward a unified ban.
But the situation with India, which according to SIPRI accounted for 38 percent of Russia’s sales over the five-year period, is more complicated. The country is enormously dependent on Russian military hardware, with 75 percent of India’s imports over the last five years coming from Russia, compared to only 7 percent from the US.
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