India and Russia’s Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) agreement is a landmark military logistics pact that allows both countries’ armed forces to use each other’s bases for refuelling, repairs, supplies, and berthing, sharply deepening their long‑standing defence partnership. By streamlining logistics for ships, aircraft, and troops, the agreement turns the India–Russia relationship into a more operational, on‑ground strategic collaboration rather than just one based on arms sales and diplomacy.
What Is The RELOS Agreement?
The Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support (RELOS) agreement is a bilateral military logistics pact designed to give the Indian and Russian armed forces simplified access to each other’s military facilities. Under this framework, warships, aircraft, and military units from either side can obtain fuel, food, spare parts, maintenance, and berthing support at designated bases during peacetime, exercises, or crises.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence and India’s representatives first signed the pact in Moscow in February 2025, after several years of negotiation and draft approval in 2024. The Russian State Duma has since ratified the agreement, clearing the way for it to enter into force just ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s 2025 visit to India.
Why It Matters For India–Russia Defence Ties?
For decades, India–Russia military cooperation largely centred on defence technology and equipment—fighter jets, submarines, missiles, and joint projects like the BrahMos. RELOS adds a crucial operational layer by making it cheaper and easier for both militaries to sustain deployments far from home without building entirely new infrastructure.
The pact is valid for an initial five‑year term with automatic renewal unless either side decides to terminate it, signalling that both countries see this as a long‑term pillar of their “special and privileged strategic partnership.” It also brings Russia into a select group of India’s logistics partners, alongside countries like the United States, Japan, Australia, and France, with which India already has similar agreements.
How RELOS Works On The Ground?
In practical terms, RELOS functions like a mutual credit‑and‑settlement system for military logistics. When Russian warships or aircraft use Indian ports and airbases for fuel and support, the costs are tracked and later settled through agreed financial or in‑kind mechanisms—and the same applies to Indian forces in Russia. This avoids case‑by‑case negotiations or emergency arrangements, which can slow deployments and raise expenses.
The agreement covers a wide range of activities: joint exercises, training drills, anti‑piracy patrols, strategic transits, and humanitarian or disaster‑relief missions where rapid access to fuel and maintenance can be the difference between timely and delayed responses. It is especially valuable for complex naval operations, where ships may need multiple refuelling and resupply points across vast distances.
Strategic Geography: From Indian Ocean To Arctic
One important dimension of RELOS is geography. For Russia, access to Indian ports in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) helps it maintain a more regular maritime presence in strategically important sea lanes without building its own bases. This strengthens Russia’s profile in the wider Indo‑Pacific while allowing India to remain central to regional security architecture.
For India, the pact opens opportunities in the Arctic and the Russian Far East, where Moscow controls key ports along the Northern Sea Route from Vladivostok to Murmansk. These facilities could support Indian naval visits, joint drills, or presence missions in regions tied closely to India’s long‑term energy interests, such as liquefied natural gas projects on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula.
Link To Trade, Sanctions And Multipolarity
RELOS also sits against the backdrop of disrupted dollar‑based trade and Western sanctions on Russia, which have pushed both countries to explore rupee–rouble settlements and alternative payment channels. While the agreement is military in nature, it symbolically reinforces a broader political message: that India and Russia aim to preserve strategic autonomy and a multipolar world order, even as each maintains complex ties with other global powers.
At the same time, the pact gives India more room to balance its partnerships. New Delhi already has logistics pacts with key members of the US‑aligned Indo‑Pacific architecture but has been careful to preserve strong defence ties with Moscow; RELOS helps reassure Russia that it remains a central partner in India’s long‑term security calculus.
Benefits, Risks And Future Outlook
For both sides, the biggest benefit is increased readiness and interoperability: joint exercises such as the INDRA series can become more ambitious and sustained when logistics are pre‑arranged and predictable. Humanitarian assistance and disaster‑relief operations can also become faster and more effective, with ships and aircraft drawing support from whichever partner’s base is closer to the crisis zone.
However, RELOS also comes with strategic sensitivities. India must balance this deeper defence cooperation with Russia alongside its growing partnerships with Western democracies, while Russia must manage perceptions in China and other partners about expanding military logistics ties in the Indo‑Pacific. How deftly New Delhi and Moscow navigate these dynamics will determine whether RELOS becomes a quiet backbone of their security relationship or a flashpoint in wider geopolitical competition.
