Introduction
In February 2025, India and Russia signed the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) agreement in Moscow— a significant step towards mutual military sharing. RELOS, which entered into force on 12 January 2026, following Russia’s State Duma ratification on 28 December 2025, provides both countries with reciprocal access to military bases, airfields, ports, military facilities, and refuelling, repair, and maintenance points for military operations. It will also institutionalise Far Eastern and Arctic facilities for India, and structured access to Indian Ocean facilities for Russia at a time when the West has limited Moscow’s global access due to sanctions. The article examines RELOS continuity through adaptation, which reinforces defence ties in India and Russia’s bilateral partnership. It also highlights a shift in their relations due to the influence of geopolitical pressures, defence diversification, and a multi-alignment approach.
The Long Arc of India-Russia Relations
India-Russia defence cooperation is based on complementary interests. In the 1971 Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation, Russia played a strategic role in supporting India for the Bangladesh War as also allowed India to maintain military-technical cooperation for a long period of time on concessional terms. This platform became the backbone of the Indian armed forces in maintaining its military ties with its Russian counterpart.
The bilateral Strategic Partnership between India and Russia was declared in October 2000 to share their mutual interests and concerns. Later, it was enhanced in 2010 and transformed into a “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership” consistently incorporating procurement and co-development in decade-long Military Technical Cooperation (MTC) frameworks. Russia has been the main source of armaments for India, and Russian-made weaponry has long formed a significant portion of India’s inventories of arms on land, sea, and air.
This is one of the most stable relationships. Some developments like the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War, the Russia-China axis, western sanctions on Russia and India’s procurement diversification with other partners does have implications on the relationship. In this background, RELOS is the latest in a longstanding, yet still evolving, and offers an opportunity in India and Russia’s mutual defence cooperation to expand their military exchange facilities.
What exactly is RELOS?
RELOS is an agreement for “logistical support, separate from arms procurement contracts” and formal basing agreements. It allows the exchange of facilities for refuelling, maintenance and medical services; joint exercises and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations— 3,000 personnel, 5 warships and 10 aircraft each for 5 years, extendable. It holds strategic significance for three reasons: first, it expands India’s operational geography to the Arctic and the Russian Far East; second, it gives Russia a structured path to the Indian Ocean; and, last, most importantly, it transforms bilateral defence cooperation from arms deals to cooperation and interoperability. Historically, access to one another’s facilities was arranged on an ad hoc, case-by-case basis. Presently, it provides a wider range of logistic support, including extended range, reducing costs and duplication and enhancing interoperability. Thus, RELOS institutionalises the cooperation in a predictable and reciprocal model that contributes to the planning and implementation of cooperation considerably.
Multi-Alignment/Strategic Autonomy
Multi-alignment is a strategic approach for India, aligning with other nations or group of nations based on issues in on our national interest. As it is visible, New Delhi is part of both BRICS and the QUAD, even though these groups pull in very different directions in terms of economic development and regional stability. Through BRICS, India stays closely connected with rising powers, non-Western countries, including Russia and China, hoping to encourage a more multilateral world order. Simultaneously, in the framework of the diplomatic forum viz. QUAD, India’s strategic partnership with the US, Japan, and Australia aims to keep the Indo-Pacific stable and secure. In the same manner, it shapes India’s logistics deals as New Delhi runs agreements like RELOS with Moscow and LEMOA with Washington side by side. Indeed, these agreements with like-minded partners widen India’s reach and shapes its posture at international platforms; however, it does not force it to pick sides. India’s national interests-based decision while maintaining its defence ties in the presence of superpower friction in international politics, defines its strategic autonomy without undermining its core principles.
RELOS is part of India’s wider network of logistics diplomacy, which includes various bilateral agreements that are mutually beneficial for India and Russia. India also shares a similar pact with the United States (US) known as the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016, which was followed by arrangements with France, Australia, and Japan. In contrast to LEMOA, RELOS offers a unique and different tier from LEMOA, as India is moving towards an Indo-Pacific democratic security architecture. Both pacts use the same multi-alignment posture in the domain; for instance, LEMOA extends operations to the Indo-Pacific, whereas RELOS extends into Eurasia and the Arctic.
RELOS as Continuity and Adaptation
Continuity
Apart from the Su-30MKI (272 aircraft signed for by HAL), which is Russian-origin and built under licence, T-90 Bhishma tanks (estimated 1,650 tanks in service), S-400 air defence systems, as also BrahMos —all are joint ventures between India and Russia and well tested during Operation Sindoor (May 2025). Hence, India’s armed forces are still quite reliant on Russian-origin platforms that cannot be retired on the procurement timescales. A formalised logistics system is a must for this inventory. While procurement statistics don’t measure it, RELOS is the administrative representation of the relationship of defence.
Adaptation
RELOS’s value is based on geographic ambitions. In the coming years, India’s access to Vladivostok, Murmansk, and the Arctic will provide access to the Northern Sea Route, which is presently seen as immediately relevant in the context of the 2026 disruptions in West Asia. It will also enable access to minerals and rare earth metals within the Arctic region in the years ahead. For Russia, access to warm water means access to the Indian Ocean, which is strategically relevant in Asia and illustrates Russian partnerships with other powers beyond Beijing— an important context for Russia-China relations.
As per the current scenario, the US’ presence in the Indian Ocean, with its base on Diego Garcia and other facilities in Bahrain and Djibouti, is often perceived as a geostrategic concern by both Russia and China. Simultaneously, China’s expanding strategic footprint through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) across the Eurasian landmass and its perceived “String of Pearls” network in the Indian Ocean has heightened concerns in New Delhi regarding long-term strategic encirclement and maritime influence. In this context, India benefits from maintaining a trusted and supportive partner in the Indian Ocean. RELOS, therefore, embodies a combination of legacy dependence, defence modernisation, and strategic innovation, while reinforcing the broader India-Russia partnership under evolving geopolitical conditions.
India’s Balancing Act: Pressures and Partners
The Ukraine War has had real-world impacts and, according to SIPRI 2026, Russia’s contribution to global arms exports has decreased from 21% in 2016-20 to 6.8% in 2021-25— a decrease of 64% in total. India has been suffering delays in deliveries of S-400 and in the supply chain in building its fleet of frigates. Washington has given waivers to CAATSA, and the secondary tariffs imposed during the month of July 2025 enabled with actual frontier-technology alternatives like GE-414 engines, MQ-9B drones and the TRUST (iCET) framework. The strategic shift in the relationship between Russia and China makes things trickier. The more dependent Russia becomes on Beijing, the less independent India can remain as a partner. Meanwhile, India is diversifying their procurement with France at 29%, Israel at 15%, and the US, whereas RELOS takes the procurement operations to the next level. The procurement paradox of the present phase is that the procurement process is in one thing, while the operations are in the other.
What RELOS Reveals about the Future of Relations
RELOS points to a future for India-Russia relations that is not just about agreement for logistical support. What really matters now is how well the two countries can work together on the ground. With RELOS, they are formalising logistics support, opening up more strategic access, and making it easier for their militaries to operate side by side. This shift is not about buying hardware anymore, but is rather about getting flexible, being ready, and thinking bigger. Russia remains important for India, fitting strategically into New Delhi’s broader plan to diversify, balance its ties, and make its own choices.
Still, RELOS does not fundamentally solve the bigger issues hanging over this relationship. However, the war in Ukraine, western sanctions, India’s growing defence links with other countries, and Russia getting closer to China —all of these will have an impact on how India and Russia deal with each other in the upcoming years. RELOS does not turn back the clock; it’s more about adjusting to the new reality. So, the real weight of RELOS is not just what changes today. It’s about what doors it could open down the line. As India and Russia try to find their way in a world that’s only getting more complicated, there is a big question on the table: Is this logistics deal the start of something deeper, or is it just another step as their partnership keeps evolving?
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