Sunday November 14th 2021
USA threatens sanctions
Russia delivers weapons to India
A border conflict in the Himalayas has been simmering between India and China for some time. In order to be prepared in the event of a possible threat from China, India is protecting itself with an additional load of weapons from Russia. However, there is now a threat of sanctions from the USA.
Despite US sanctions threats, Russia has started delivering anti-aircraft missile systems to India. “The first deliveries have already started,” the Interfax news agency quoted the head of the Russian agency for military cooperation, Dmitri Shugayev. The first unit of this so-called S-400 system will therefore arrive in India by the end of the year. India risks US sanctions for the supplies. The basis for this is a US law from 2017 that is intended to prevent countries from buying Russian military equipment.
India signed an agreement with Russia in 2018 that is worth $ 5.5 billion and provides for the delivery of five long-range surface-to-air missile systems. India claims to need these weapons to counter a threat from China. A border conflict in the Himalayas has been simmering for a long time between the states that both have nuclear weapons. Again and again, China and India accused each other of provocations. The New Delhi government said it had a strategic partnership with both the US and Russia.
Last year the United States imposed sanctions on NATO ally Turkey for acquiring S-400 missiles from Russia. They were directed against the main Turkish establishment for the procurement and development of defense equipment. Washington also excluded Turkey from the program for the F-35 stealth fighter jet, the most advanced aircraft in the US arsenal used by NATO members and other US allies. Russia, in turn, offered to help Turkey develop modern jet fighters, but no agreement has yet been reached. “We are still at the stage of negotiations on this project,” Shugayev was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.