The coverage of India’s Operation Sindoor in the Russian mainstream and social media has been disappointing. While the mainstream media showed a subtle bias toward Pakistan, the tilt was far more pronounced on social platforms.
In the following sections, we explore possible reasons behind this estrangement between segments of the Russian media and India, and what New Delhi could consider doing in response.
Wild Pakistani Claims
Russian media outlets have, for the most part, uncritically echoed exaggerated claims by Pakistani officials, operating under the flawed assumption that silence from Indian officials implies validation.
Much of the Russian media has amplified the narrative that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) decisively outperformed the Indian Air Force (IAF) during the opening night of Operation Sindoor on May 7, citing Pakistani claims that five Indian fighter jets were shot down.
What’s striking is the complete disregard for the lack of corroborating evidence. Pakistani officials have not released cockpit footage, radar logs, or geolocated imagery to substantiate these shootdown claims.
Moreover, much of the imagery circulated by Pakistan-affiliated social media accounts—and picked up by Russian outlets—has been publicly debunked by Indian officials with detailed counter-evidence.
Despite this, Russian media rarely informed their audiences that these claims had been challenged and refuted by India with credible documentation.
Plunge In Reputation
Russia’s well-regarded military-focused social media outlets—such as Military Informant, Rybar, and Two Majors—have earned credibility through their generally disciplined reporting on the Ukraine war.
Notably, they have occasionally challenged official narratives from the Russian Ministry of Defence, especially when facts warranted it.
These platforms have typically exercised caution, giving weight to enemy aircraft shootdown claims only when supported by cockpit footage, radar data, or geolocated wreckage.
However, in their coverage of Operation Sindoor, they appeared to abandon these rigorous standards. Fact-checking was conspicuously absent, and journalistic norms that had once defined their credibility were overlooked.
Inexplicable Oversights
Strikingly, not a single Russian outlet has acknowledged the Indian armed forces for successfully executing their clearly stated objective on the night of May 7: targeting a cross-border terror support network inside Pakistan.
These were not preemptive strikes, as widely mischaracterized in Russian and international media, but punitive actions with a focused and limited scope. India deliberately avoided targeting Pakistani military infrastructure.
By any standard, a military operation is deemed successful if it achieves its objectives—India did precisely that across all designated targets.
In contrast, Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes lacked clearly articulated military aims. Each Pakistani action was met with calibrated Indian retaliation, culminating in India’s final and most forceful strike on May 10, after which Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire.
Russian media, for the most part, has overlooked these core facts.
Moreover, India’s self-imposed rules of engagement on May 7 placed IAF fighters at a tactical disadvantage. While Indian pilots tracked PAF aircraft, they were constrained from initiating engagement—limitations the PAF did not face.
In aerial combat, the first to fire often dictates the outcome. However, foreign coverage of the conflict almost entirely ignores this critical nuance.
Understanding Pro-Pakistan Tilt Of Russian Media
It is perplexing that much of the Russian media has so readily embraced a narrative that praises Pakistani military performance while largely ignoring the operational success of Indian forces.
In some cases, such as the outlet Reporter, the coverage borders on hostility toward India. While Reporter lacks serious journalistic credibility and often publishes sensationalist content, its wide readership and social media traction make its influence significant.
Bizarrely enough, Reporter has been claiming that since the IAF Rafales have proven to be no match for Chinese J-10s, India would now be advised to procure Russian Su-57 fighters.
This antagonistic tone is particularly disappointing given the long-standing historical ties between India and Russia.
Two key factors likely explain this shift.
First, many in Russia view India’s deepening defense and strategic ties with the West—especially its arms deals with the U.S., France, and Israel—as a betrayal of past loyalties and a threat to Russian interests.
Second, Russia’s growing military and strategic alignment with China, a staunch ally of Pakistan, may be subtly influencing the tone of Russian media coverage in Pakistan’s favor.
India’s Arms Procurement From The West
The Russian social media outlets referenced earlier frequently express resentment over India’s growing defense ties with the U.S., France, and Israel. Of particular contention is India’s continued procurement of Rafale fighter jets from France, which appears to be a sore point.
That the Indian Air Force now regards the Rafale, not the Su-30MKI, as its frontline fighter seems to strike a nerve.
This discontent manifests in a subtle eagerness to see Rafales perform poorly in combat. It also explains, in part, why these outlets downplay the IAF’s effective use of BrahMos-A missiles launched from Su-30MKIs to damage Pakistani airbases and radar installations.
There appears to be an emotional undertone—almost a need—to believe that the Rafale is overrated, especially when compared to the Su-30MKI of Russian origin. This bias, however, overlooks India’s pragmatic approach to forcing modernization, which is based on operational requirements rather than sentiment.
The China Angle
Russia’s growing strategic alignment and deepening trade ties with China likely contribute significantly to the pro-Pakistan tilt seen in its media coverage.
Some of this bias appears rooted in Pakistan’s claim that Chinese-supplied J-10 fighters shot down IAF Rafales—a narrative that implicitly boosts perceptions of Chinese (and by extension, Russian-aligned) military technology.
It’s worth questioning whether Russian media would have been equally enthusiastic had the claims involved U.S.-supplied F-16s downing Russian-origin Su-30MKIs.
There’s an underlying desire in Russian commentary to validate the competitiveness of Russian and Chinese weaponry against Western systems—a narrative that supports geopolitical positioning as much as national pride.
Russian Media Limitations
A defining trait of Russian mainstream and social media is their heavy reliance on officially provided information. Most outlets either echo government statements or quote foreign sources, often to avoid direct responsibility for contentious claims.
Analytical journalism is scarce. Few Russian platforms critically assess or interpret unfolding events.
For instance, Pakistan’s wild claims of Rafale shootdowns were likely fishing expeditions, aimed at eliciting a reaction from India that could reveal operational details. Yet such nuanced analysis is rarely explored or explained in Russian media coverage.
Conclusion
India should take serious note of the shifting perceptions within Russian media, where India is increasingly seen as leaning toward the West.
In the eyes of many Russians, especially against the backdrop of Moscow’s tightening embrace of Beijing, the choice between China and India is no longer difficult—China comes first.
This change may not reflect official policy, but it signals a cooling sentiment that India cannot afford to ignore.
- Vijainder K Thakur is a retired IAF Jaguar pilot, author, software architect, entrepreneur, and military analyst.
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