Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday assured India that there was no change in the implementation of the contracts on supplying the sophisticated S-400 anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile system to the country. His comments came weeks after the Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheyev said that India will receive the first batch of the sophisticated S-400 missile system from Russia in October-December this year.

“I would like to mention the implementation of the contracts on supplying S-400 systems to India. We see no changes regarding that and the Indian authorities have confirmed their adherence to these agreements,” Lavrov said in response to a question during a press conference after the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ virtual meeting hosted by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding warning from the then Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may trigger US sanctions under CAATSA. The S-400 is known as Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system. The ‘Triumf’ interceptor-based missile system can destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act or CAATSA is a tough US law which authorizes the administration to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections. In 2019, India made the first tranche of payment of around USD 800 million to Russia for the missile systems.

In December, Russia had said that implementation of its ongoing defence deals with India including the supply of a batch of S-400 missile systems is advancing well notwithstanding the threat of US sanctions. As for our cooperation with India, economically, politically and from the humanitarian sphere, in the military area and in health care, all kinds of cooperation, collaboration we developed gradually and according to the agreement reached at the highest level,” Lavrov said on Tuesday. “Literally today, we have sent a new batch of Sputnik-V vaccine in addition to large-scale steps to help to support India in this situation they found themselves due to the coronavirus pandemic, the top Russian diplomat said. He also expressed Russia’s gratitude to India as the chairman in this year’s BRICS. During the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting, Lavrov called on his counterparts from the five-nation bloc to come up with a joint signal to the world in favour of strengthening and reforming the multilateral system. “Our association plays one of the leading roles in settling global problems today. It is an example of real multiversity- inclusive, universal and non-discriminatory,” he was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency at the online meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers.