Despite US sanctions India has received Russian S-400 missiles worth $5 billion. “Supplies have begun this month and will continue to happen,” Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.
Shringla was speaking with the media after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at India-Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi.
Regarding the US Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), Shringla said: “I don’t think this issue came up at all in talks with the Russian delegation.”
Russia has long been a key arms supplier to India, which is looking to modernise its armed forces, and the S-400 missile system is one of their most high-profile current contracts.
The deal is worth over $5 billion and was first signed in 2018, but it threatens to upend the burgeoning relationship between New Delhi and Washington.
Possible US sanctions
“Our Indian friends clearly explained that they are a sovereign country and that they will decide whose weapons to buy and who will be India’s partner,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
Washington has long tried to deter countries from buying military equipment from Russia, threatening them with punitive measures under CAATSA.
Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defence, reiterated during his March visit to India that all US allies and partners should shun Russian hardware and “avoid any kind of acquisition that would trigger sanctions.”
A 10-year defence technical cooperation agreement and a one-year oil contract were among the deals signed as Putin held talks with India’s Modi. India will also produce more than 600,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles under the agreement.
