NEW DELHI – India’s foreign minister on Monday defended his country’s rightto buy a missile defence system from Russia despite the threat of sanctionsfrom the United States.
On a visit to Washington, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said India wasdiscussing the US concerns but declined to forecast the ultimate decisionon the fate of the S-400 purchase from Russia.
“We have always maintained that what we buy — the sourcing of militaryequipment — is very much a sovereign right,” he told reporters ahead of ameeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“We would not like any state to tell us what to buy or not to buy fromRussia any more than we would like any state to tell us to buy or not buyfrom America,” he said.
“That freedom of choice is ours and we think it’s in everybody’s interestto recognise that,” he said.
India, a Cold War ally of the Soviet Union, last year agreed to buy fiveS-400 systems for $5.2 billion, and Russia has said that delivery is ontrack.
Under a 2017 law, the United States imposes sanctions against countriesover “major” arms purchases from Russia due to Moscow’s militaryinvolvement in Ukraine and Syria and alleged meddling in US elections.
Turkey, a Nato ally, in June angered the United States by also going aheadwith an S-400 purchase.
President Donald Trump responded by ending Turkey’s involvement in the F-35fighter jet program but has yet to announce other sanctions.
Read Top Stories
Jaishankar hailed warm relations overall with the United States butunderlined India’s differences with Trump’s hawkish stance on Iran.
The United States has threatened sanctions to force all countries to stopbuying oil from Iran as it seeks to curb the clerical regime’s influence inthe Middle East.
In May, the Trump administration ended waivers for countries includingIndia, formerly a leading customer for Iranian oil.
“We view Iran from the east, and from the east Iran has been a very stable,status quo power,” Jaishankar said.
For India, “we’ve been repeatedly assured that the affordable andpredictable access to energy will not change,” he said, declining tocomment further on discussions on Iran.
India has been teaming up to expand Iran’s Chabahar port, a way to ensure asupply route to Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan. -APP/AFP
