US President Donald Trump has warned of a “penalty” on India for continuing its close defence and energy ties with Russia, saying in a social media post, “They have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia and are Russia’s largest buyer of energy… at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine.”Russia remains India’s largest arms supplier, accounting for 36% of imports between 2020 and 2024, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, although this is down from 55% in the previous period.Amid this backdrop, the US has pushed for defence deals, including the F-35 stealth fighter jets, which were also mentioned in a February joint statement between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the Indian government has clarified that no formal discussion has taken place on acquiring the F-35.
Former Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar flagged key concerns. “This F-35 is maybe one of the factors that US is looking at… they would try to put pressure on India to buy this aircraft,” he said, adding that procurement decisions must depend on India’s own threat perceptions and national security needs, “not just because… somebody is pressuring us to buy it.”He also raised red flags over operational independence. “There are communication controls… they are not willing to share with them the source codes… there was not that much of independence in handling the aircraft,” he said, referring to NATO countries’ limited access to F-35 codes.While India should continue diversifying its arms imports, Kumar said, “All we can depend on Russia is for the maintenance and supply of spare parts… which are under service in the armed forces.”For full interview, watch accompanying video(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)
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