Starting Tuesday, a glimpse into Indo-Russian defence ties in 50 photos

These photographs include those of Indo-Russian military exercises, technological cooperation and photographs from the 2013 handover of the Vikramaditya, which is the refitted former Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. A highlight is a photograph of former USSR Defence Minister Georgy Zhukov riding an elephant during his 1957 visit to India.

Besides TASS and the Russian Embassy, the Russian House in New Delhi is co-presenting the exhibition, as seen through the lens of TASS photographers over the last six decades.

Since the late 1950s, the foundations for military-technical cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi have been laid, says the photograph featuring Zhukov on an elephant. Another shows Indian and Russian military personnel during the opening of the international Russian-Indian exercises Indra-2021. There is also an image of the T-90 and T-72 tanks during the Russian-Indian exercises Indra-2017 in Primorsky Krai of Russia.

Evgeny Pakhomov, Bureau Chief of TASS in India, among the organisers, told The Indian Express that this was the first time some of these photographs will be showcased to the public.

“The idea is also to familiarise young people with this aspect of partnership and friendship, who may not have a huge recall value for faces of political leaders,” said Pakhomov.

There are also pictures from the Aero India show in 2019, which shows the Sukhoi Su-30MK, assembled in India under Russian licence, and the Indian fighter Tejas flying together. Another photograph has Bhishma tanks at a military parade in New Delhi in 2020. These Russian-designed tanks are reduced under licence in India.

With the Russia-Ukraine war going on for over two years, there has been a delay in Russian defence supplies. India and Russia have agreed to expedite the delivery of spare parts of Russian-origin military platforms by setting up joint ventures in India among other ways, the then Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had said in July this year.

Most of India’s existing military hardware is Russian-origin and needs a regular supply of spares for maintenance. The Ukraine war has also delayed Russia’s scheduled deliveries of certain big-ticket weapon systems to India, like the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems.