Priyanka Kakkar, the Chief National spokesperson of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) recently made a tweet from her account and wrote, “It is being told that Russia has stopped military supplies to India because they owe 2 billion USD. According to the news published in the newspapers, Russia has refused to accept the “rupees”. It is being said that the existing equipment with the Indian Air Force is currently maintained by Russia, but due to non-availability of funds, the maintenance has also been stopped.”
To support her claim, she attached an article from Live Mint titled “Russians arms sales to India stall due to fears over US sanctions.”
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On opening the Live Mint article, it was found that it was not published recently but on 21 April 2023. The article states that the nations were unable to find a payment mechanism that would not violate US sanctions, which is why military shipments from Russia were halted.
India was unable to make the payment because of the economic restrictions and a fear surrounding the US secondary sanctions.
Moreover, because of the fluctuations in the exchange rate in the market, Russia rejected India’s offer for the payment to be paid in Rupees.
It was further said the Indian government had also proposed using the money from the arms sale to Moscow to invest in Indian debt and capital markets to avoid depositing the rupee, but the Russian government did not find this appealing and rejected the proposal.
Secondary sanctions(by the US) are intended to discourage non-US individuals or organisations (here India/Russia) from engaging in specific transactions. They are designed to prevent third parties (in this case India) from trading with countries subjected to Primary sanctions (in this case Russia) by the US government.
Moreover, according to another article by Defense News, on April 28, after discussions between Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, the two governments resorted to the solution.
India’s Ministry of Defence had agreed to use Russia’s financial messaging system to make payments. The Bank of Russia’s Financial Messaging System (SPFS), which facilitates cross-border financial transactions, is an alternative to the Swift system.
Given the aforementioned facts, Priyanka Kakkar’s tweet is misleading because the news is two months old. And the issue with the payment mechanism that both nations were having was resolved right away.
| Claim | Russia halted military supplies to India over the payment issue |
| Claimed by | Priyanka Kakkar |
| Fact Check | Misleading (2 months old) |
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