India Sticks to Its Guns, To Buy S400 Air Defence Systems From Russia Despite U.S. Sanctions

The Indian government has reportedly conveyed to the U.S. that the "time-tested" Indo-Russian cooperation in the defence sector will continue. This includes the deal for S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for the Indian Air Force, notwithstanding U.S. imposed sanctions against Moscow.

Sources said India has conveyed to the U.S. government its need for a waiver from the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for the proposed deal with Russia, estimated to be worth about $5.5 billion (Rs 39,000 crore). The Indian government is likely to raise the issue with the U.S. when the two sides meet in Washington for the 2+2 talks next month.

"In all our engagements with the U.S., we have clearly explained how India and Russia's defence cooperation has been going on for a long time and that it is a time-tested relationship. We have mentioned that CAATSA cannot impact the India-Russia defence cooperation," India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press conference.

She said India had an ongoing relationship for the procurement of defence assets from Russia including servicing of parts as well as transfer of critical technologies hence the cooperation between the two countries would go on. In January, the U.S. announced sanctions against Russia under CAATSA for Moscow's alleged meddling in the American presidential election in 2016.

CAATSA, which came into effect in January, mandates the Donald Trump administration to punish countries and entities engaging in significant transaction with the defence or intelligence establishment of Russia.

Asked whether India will go ahead with the S-400 deal with Russia, the defence minister said the long-drawn negotiations relating to it have reached final stage.

"The S-400 deal has been on for a very long time and we have reached the final stage of negotiations. That explains it," she said.

India wants to procure the long-range missile systems to tighten its air defence mechanism, particularly along the nearly 4,000-km-long Sino-India border.

Official sources said both Russia and India are likely to announce the deal before an annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in October.

There have been mounting concerns in India over the U.S. sanctions against Russian defence majors including Rosoboron-export as billions of dollars of military purchases may be impacted because of the punitive measure.

The issue is understood to have figured during Modi's informal talks with Putin in Sochi last month.

Top American lawmakers and experts have warned that imposition of sanctions on India under a newly-enacted law if it buys the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia could be disastrous for the Indo-U.S. ties. Sections of U.S. defence establishment and strategic community have also argued in India’s favour as they fear that sanctions could adversely impact Indo-U.S. partnership. “We totally appreciate India’s concerns. It was raised in discussions during senior level meetings last month,” Joe Felter, deputy assistant secretary of defence for South and Southeast Asia recently told a news agency. “We also are very concerned because we very much hope to maintain the momentum and the trajectory of this relationship. We want to deepen our cooperation and not to reduce it.”

While the U.S. has become India’s second largest defence supplier – mainly of aircraft and artillery – India still relies heavily on Russian equipment, such as submarines and missiles, that the U.S. has been unwilling to provide. This combined with the country’s geopolitical situation with contested borders on two sides means that if the U.S. pushes India to reduce its dependence on Russia it would cause unacceptable risk to the country’s self-defence architecture. (With Agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2018 03:12 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).