The ratification of the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS) by the Russian State Duma on 2 December 2025, just days before President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in New Delhi, marked a subtle yet highly consequential moment in India-Russia relations. Far from being a routine bureaucratic step, the timing underscored Moscow’s intent to reinforce a long-standing strategic partnership at a time when the global order is fragmenting and great-power rivalries are tightening across Eurasia, the Indo-Pacific and even the Arctic. By ensuring that the agreement was formally in force before the summit, Russia signalled that India remains a central pillar of its Asian outreach, notwithstanding its deepening military dependencies elsewhere.

A Partnership Built Over Decades

RELOS was originally signed in February 2025, but its true value only emerges now, as it becomes legally enforceable. At first glance, it seems like a technical arrangement allowing both militaries to use each other’s bases, airfields, ports and logistics nodes. In reality, it is much more. For India, it establishes a predictable, structured and long-overdue mechanism to sustain one of the world’s largest inventories of Russian-origin military equipment. For Russia, it secures access to Indian facilities across the Indian Ocean, helping it maintain a limited but relevant maritime presence at a time when Western access is constrained.

To understand why RELOS matters, one must appreciate the scale and depth of India’s defence engagement with Russia. This is a partnership forged over seven decades, beginning in the years after Independence when Soviet systems became the backbone of India’s military modernisation. Through the Cold War and well beyond, Russian aircraft, tanks, submarines, missile systems and helicopters became central to India’s combat power. The Su-30MKI, T-90, Mi-17V5, Kilo-class submarine, Talwar frigate and S-400 air defence complexes are not isolated acquisitions; they represent a legacy built through licensed production, joint development and transfer of technology. Russian assistance during the 1971 war left a lasting imprint, and subsequent decades saw continued cooperation even as both nations recalibrated their geopolitical alignments.

The Entrenched Challenges of Maintaining Russian Hardware

Such an inheritance brings significant operational advantages, but it also produces immense sustainment challenges. Russian-origin platforms require distinct supply chains, specialised overhaul facilities, proprietary test equipment and certified processes. Their maintenance cycles are rigid and unforgiving. A single delay in a radar module, flight-control actuator or hydraulic unit can immobilise an entire Su-30MKI flight. Serviceability for these aircraft has periodically dropped to uncomfortable levels because of inconsistent spares availability. The Mi-17V5 fleet, flown intensively for transport and operational tasks, faces strict time-between-overhaul limits for engines, gearboxes and rotor systems many of which can be serviced only in Russia or with Russian-certified tools.

The naval challenges are even more demanding. Kilo-class submarines require complete battery replacement every decade and extensive refit cycles involving hull opening, pressure testing, propulsion checks and sonar calibration. Any delay in securing Russian components or technicians cascades into months, sometimes years, of lost availability. Talwar-class frigates depend on specialised gas-turbine spares and consumables that are neither abundantly stocked nor quickly sourced. These ships often deploy with overweight inventories simply because replenishment en route is uncertain.

On land, T-90 tanks face demanding engine cycles, especially in India’s harsh climatic conditions. Thermal imagers, stabilisation units, missile guidance modules and electronic subsystems have fixed lifespans. Cannibalisation i.e. sacrificing one platform to sustain others has often been an unavoidable maintenance practice. Air defence systems such as the S-400 require sensitive calibration and diagnostic regimes tied closely to Russian test equipment.

All of this creates a logistics ecosystem that is vast, expensive and vulnerable to delay. Russia’s key industrial complexes are located in the Far East, Siberia and the Arctic regions not easily accessible without a formal agreement. Without structured access, India has had to depend on commercial shipping, fragmented procurement, emergency orders and ad hoc arrangements. Costs spiral when repairs become urgent. Every delay in spares delivery reduces fleet readiness and forces the services to maintain large buffer inventories.

RELOS directly addresses this long-standing gap. For the first time, Indian military platforms will have predictable access to Russian ports, airfields, depots and specialised workshops. Components can be moved through dedicated military channels rather than commercial routes, significantly shortening timelines. Indian ships deployed in the Sea of Japan, North Pacific or even the Arctic can undertake replenishment, emergency repairs, inspections and maintenance in Russian facilities. Aircraft participating in joint exercises need not carry extensive support equipment; they can draw from Russian ground-handling resources. For legacy systems requiring periodic deep overhauls, RELOS provides a structured pathway for serviceability.

How RELOS Changes the Game for India

Beyond operational convenience, the geographical dimension is equally important. RELOS gives India the ability to operate confidently in the Russian Far East and Arctic regions growing in strategic importance due to energy opportunities, new shipping corridors and great-power competition. India has long pursued a measured Arctic policy, recognising future stakes in energy, climate and connectivity. With reliable logistical access, Indian naval deployments into these waters become more feasible, strengthening India’s presence in a theatre previously out of practical reach.

Economically too, RELOS reduces costs. Scheduled maintenance is cheaper than emergency repairs. Predictable logistics lower spare-part premiums. By enabling serviceability in Russian facilities, India saves both time and money while improving fleet availability. This buys India valuable breathing space as it transitions to more indigenous systems across all three services.

Politically, the agreement reinforces India’s strategic autonomy. Over the past decade, New Delhi has signed logistics-exchange agreements with the United States, France, Australia, South Korea and Singapore, all oriented broadly toward the Indo-Pacific. RELOS anchors India’s access chain in the Eurasian and Arctic regions, giving it strategic reach in areas not covered by Western partners. Rather than pulling India into either bloc, RELOS enhances India’s manoeuvring room by adding another logistics corridor in a multipolar world.

Diplomatically, it also signals continuity. At a time when Russia faces Western sanctions and has pivoted towards China, the agreement demonstrates that India values a balanced approach. New Delhi’s message is clear: it will deepen ties with the West while preserving legacy partnerships with Moscow, each relationship built on its own merit, anchored in India’s national interests rather than ideological alignment.

The most important outcome, however, is the removal of uncertainty. Modern warfare is logistics-intensive, and platforms are only as effective as their sustainment chains. By institutionalising the logistics bridge with Russia, India ensures that its extensive Russian-origin arsenal remains functional, reliable and cost-effective for years to come. This stabilisation is critical given India’s simultaneous effort to modernise its air force, navy and army.

Conclusion

The ratification of RELOS is therefore more than a diplomatic gesture. It is a practical affirmation of a partnership that has endured for decades and must continue to function even as the strategic environment evolves. For India, the agreement is not about sentimentality; it is about ensuring operational readiness. Russian systems remain integral to India’s warfighting capability. Their sustenance requires a predictable and durable logistics framework. RELOS provides precisely that.

In an era of shifting power centres, contested supply chains and new theatres of competition, India requires multiple anchors for its military posture. RELOS offers one such anchor—extending India’s operational reach, reinforcing its strategic flexibility and ensuring that its Russian-origin arsenal remains battleworthy well into the future. Agreements like RELOS may be quiet, technical and easy to overlook, but they form the invisible scaffolding upon which national security ultimately rests. India has chosen to build this pillar at the right moment, ensuring that its long-standing but evolving partnership with Russia remains relevant, resilient and aligned with its strategic aspirations in a complex world.