Posted on December 3, 2025
On December 2, 2025, the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, ratified an important defence-logistics agreement with India. This comes just days before Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to visit New Delhi on December 4–5 for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit.
The agreement, called the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistic Support (RELOS) Agreement, was initially signed on February 18, 2025. With the recent ratification, it has now become a binding treaty, giving it full legal force. Both the Duma and the Kremlin describe this as a step toward a deeper, strategic partnership between the two countries.
What is RELOS? Key Features
RELOS provides a framework for mutual logistical support between the armed forces of India and Russia. Here’s what it allows:
- Access to military bases and ports: Military aircraft, ships, and other formations from either country can use the other’s bases, ports, and airspace for refueling, repairs, resupply, or restocking.
- Smooth coordination for joint operations: India and Russia can more easily conduct joint exercises, training missions, humanitarian assistance, and disaster-relief operations.
- Port calls and airspace use: Warships and aircraft from both countries can make port calls and use airbases and airspace when agreed upon.
Importantly, RELOS is not about permanent basing. It is a facilities-sharing and logistics-support pact, allowing both militaries to cooperate when both sides agree.
Why This Ratification Matters
- Strategic timing before Putin’s visit: By ratifying RELOS just before the summit, Russia signals that defence cooperation remains central to India-Russia ties.
- Enhanced flexibility and interoperability: Shared access to facilities allows both militaries to conduct joint drills, humanitarian missions, and disaster responses more efficiently, especially in strategic regions like the Indian Ocean or Arctic.
- Deeper defence trust without permanent bases: RELOS strengthens cooperation without requiring permanent bases, offering a practical approach to defence ties.
- Broader India-Russia cooperation: The summit is expected to cover defence, energy, civil-nuclear cooperation, trade, and payment mechanisms, highlighting how RELOS fits into a larger strategic partnership.
What it does not do and why that matters
- RELOS does not automatically mean permanent war-ship bases or long-term stationing of foreign troops on home soil. It’s about mutual logistical access, on a case-by-case, agreed basis.
- Any joint operation — training, drills, humanitarian aid must still be mutually agreed upon; RELOS only provides the mechanism, not the obligation.
- It doesn’t automatically alter India’s underlying strategic autonomy: India remains free to choose when, where, and how to exercise this access.
In short this is a tool for flexibility and readiness, not a binding deployment right.
What to watch now
President Putin’s visit on December 4–5 will likely see RELOS being activated through new defence-related discussions. Media reports suggest possible deals on additional air-defence systems (like the S-400 Triumf), advanced fighter jets (such as the Su-57), and expanding civil-nuclear cooperation.
Furthermore, analysts will monitor whether both countries utilize RELOS for joint humanitarian or disaster-relief operations a visible demonstration of its practical utility beyond military symbolism.
In a world of shifting alliances, RELOS represents a low-cost, high-flexibility mechanism for two long-standing partners to deepen trust, enhance readiness, and preserve strategic autonomy with both New Delhi and Moscow signaling they’re ready to turn rhetoric into real cooperation.