Russia: India is number one in the world in terms of purchasing arms from Russia. This claim has been made by a Russian government agency. According to the agency, in the last 5 years, Russia has supplied arms to India worth about 13 billion dollars or 1 lakh crore. During this period, India asked Russia for arms worth 10 billion dollars. The agency has also stated that India is buying 20 percent of arms from Russia alone. Sanctions imposed on Russia due to the Ukraine war have also had no effect on arms purchases in either country. Dmitry Shugaev, head of Russia’s Federal Service for the Military Technical Corporation, said that apart from India, China and many Southeast Asian countries have not reduced their interest in buying arms from Russia. America and western countries put a lot of pressure on India not to buy arms from Russia. However, India did not bow to these pressures and maintained bilateral relations. He also stated that Asian countries are more interested in some of Russia’s selected weapons. From time to time, Western countries pressure India not to buy oil and arms from Russia. In October last year, the country’s foreign minister S Jaishankar was holding a press conference with Australian foreign minister Penny Wong. It was then that an Australian journalist asked him a question about reducing dependence on Russia to buy weapons. To which the foreign minister gave a strong reply. He said that India and Russia have years of partnership. So India has benefited a lot. Russia supplied arms to India when Western countries were supporting military dictatorships like Pakistan. India will take a decision based on its own interests and not under any pressure.