NEW DELHI: India has signed a $5 billion (Dh18.36 billion) deal to buy five Russian S-400 air defence systems despite a looming threat of US sanctions on countries that trade with Russia’s defence and intelligence sectors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed the deal in New Delhi on Friday and discussed nuclear energy, space exploration and economics.
Modi and Putin Friday held the India-Russia annual summit after which eight pacts, including on cooperation on India’s ambitious human space mission project Gaganyaan, nuclear energy and railways were signed at a televised news conference.
Talks with President Putin have given new direction to the bilateral strategic partnership, Modi said in a press statement after the 19th India-Russia annual summit.
Pacts were also inked in the fields of space, nuclear energy, railways and space.
A crucial MoU was signed between Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) and the Federal Space Agency of Russia ‘ROSCOSMOS’ on joint activities in the field of human space flight programme Gaganyaan.
India and Russia are committed to cooperating in the fight against terrorism, Modi said.
President Putin said the two countries have agreed to step up cooperation in combating the menace of terrorism and drug trafficking.
India has requested a waiver from US sanctions intended to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea and alleged interference in the 2016 US elections.
The US did not spare China from sanctions last month for purchasing Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems and fighter jets.
Officials confirmed the deal was signed after Putin and Modi made no reference to it during a news conference following their talks.
But the United States has said countries trading with Russia’s defence and intelligence sectors would face automatic sanctions under a sweeping legislation called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
A State Department spokesperson said this week that the implementation of the sanctions act would be focused at countries acquiring weapons such as the S-400 missile batteries.
Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on China’s military for its purchase of combat fighters as well as the S-400 missile system it bought from Russia this year.
India is hoping that President Donald Trump’s administration will give it a waiver on the weapons systems which New Delhi sees as a deterrent against China’s bigger and superior military.
— AP
