EU to offer India more military hardware - media

 Brussels April 25 rt.com-European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will offer Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a boost in sales of EU-made weapons to New Delhi on Monday, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed senior EU official. Brussels is supposedly seeking to encourage India to reduce its ties to Russia amid the Kremlin’s ongoing military campaign in Ukraine.  

Von der Leyen is also expected to discuss the resumption of talks on a free trade agreement between the bloc and India. The main objective of the European Commission chief is to woo India away from its long-standing military and economic partner-Russia, the report claims.  

“There are a whole host of Western leaders reaching out to India right now to see what alternatives we can provide,” the unnamed EU official told Reuters. “The key is that we want to bring forward this relationship, work on technology together and bring India into our camp, that’s the main message of our visit.”  

India and the EU have been holding talks on establishing a free trade agreement off and on for years. The negotiations were frozen in 2013, when they hit a snag over tariff reduction and patent protection issues, and restarted in 2021.  

Last week, UK PM Boris Johnson paid a visit to India but has acknowledged, that it is unlikely India would turn its back on Russia in the foreseeable future.  

While calling for a peaceful resolution to the military conflict in Ukraine, India has been stopping short of directly condemning Russia’s actions or imposing sanctions.