(Image source from: DNA India)

After attempting India's quest to create "an even more robust relationship than before" with the United States during her five day visit to Washington, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will now engage with her Russian counterpart to take the long-standing relationship forward. 

Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defence Minister, is coming to New Delhi to have an extensive dialogue with his Indian counterpart, the first after the two sides inked a $5.5 billion deal for the procurement of five regiments of Russian-made S-400 Triumf air defense systems in October. The deal was signed under threat of U.S. sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, a measure signed by President Donald Trump in 2017.  

On December 14, the Russian defense minister will have a bilateral meeting with Nirmala Sitharaman in south block.

Officials privy to the development said that besides other issues on defense cooperation, the two sides are expected to finalize the modalities on mutual military logistics support agreement. This agreement will be similar to what India has signed with the U.S. in 2016, titled Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) that lets the countries to use each other's military bases and ports for logistics, refueling and repairs purposes. India has an akin agreement with Singapore as well.

"Russia had proposed such military logistics agreement with India in August and during Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin's meet in October in New Delhi, the issue gained momentum. A draft has been prepared and during next week's meeting, the two sides are expected to work on the modalities of it," said an official.

Moscow has been India's major defense partners as over two-thirds of Indian military is dependent on Russian equipment.

After S400, India also went ahead by signing a $950 million deal to supply two frigates straight from Russia and a bid to build two more at Indian shipyard.  

In the meantime, ahead to next week's meeting, Russian National Security Advisor Nikolair Patrushev on Friday met his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in New Delhi. NSAs of the two countries are working on to look into a joint mechanism in Afghanistan to counter accelerating threat from radical militant groups in the region.

During Nirmala Sitharaman's visit to the United States, she managed to gain support from her counterpart James Mattis, who has repeatedly spoken out against the imposition of sanctions on India.

"We will work everything out. Trust me," Mattis told reporters in Pentagon on the threat of U.S. sanctions on India after signing defense deals with Russia.

By Sowmya Sangam