NEW DELHI (CU)_US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin discussed India’s plans to purchase S-400 air defence missile systems from Russia, adding that Washington’s allies should steer clear of Russian equipment to avoid sanctions.
Austin arrived in India on Friday (19 March) for a two-day visit to the South Asian nation, and he made these comments following a meeting with his Indian counterpart Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday.
“We certainly urge all our allies, our partners to move away from Russian equipment … and really avoid any kind of acquisitions that would trigger sanctions on our behalf,” Austin told reporters in New Delhi.
He noted that since no S400 systems have yet been delivered to India, the possibility of sanctions was not discussed by the parties.
In 2019, New Delhi made an initial payment of $800 million to purchase S400 systems from Moscow, and the first set of missile batteries are expected to be delivered later this year.
Last year, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey for buying these anti-aircraft weapon systems.
Ahead of Austin’s visit, US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to the Defence Secretary raising the issue of the possible deal between India and Russia, and urged him to “make all of these challenges clear” in conversations with his Indian counterparts.
The Defence Secretary’s visit to the South Asian nation came on the heels of the first-ever summit of the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which included the United States, India, Australia and Japan.
During the media briefing on Saturday Austin also discussed the standoff between India and China in Ladakh, in the disputed region of Kashmir, in which both Indian and Chinese soldiers were killed in June last year.
He said his country doesn’t think that “India and China were at war”, and that the United States is working with India, Australia and Japan to ensure freedom of navigation is maintained in the Indo-Pacific Region, and to keep it “free and open”.
“Working with like-minded countries which have shared interest is the only way to check any aggression and we look forward to continue to do that in the future,” he added.
