India frustrated after failing to get missile technology edge over Pakistan
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NEW DELHI: India is desperate to buy five S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems from Russia that the country`s military sees as a game changer. The systems are touted as being able to counter the ballistic missiles and stealth aircraft that China is developing, while overwhelming the capabilities of Pakistan, India`s main adversary.
India is frustrated after the latest US sanctions which hinders its way to get the long desired technological edge over Pakistan in missile field which only S-400 missile defence system could have given it.
U.S. sanctions on Russian military exports have put the brakes on a $6 billion deal with India and may derail the arms purchases of other U.S. allies around Asia, experts say.
Under a law that U.S. President Donald Trump signed in August, any country trading with Russia`s defence and intelligence sectors will face sanctions.
The law is designed to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, involvement in the Syrian civil war and meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But American allies who buy weapons and equipment from Russia, the world`s second-largest arms exporter, could suffer as well.
The deal, which Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck as part of an inter-government agreement in 2016, has run headlong into the U.S. sanctions law, two officials in Delhi said.
Indonesia and Vietnam also buy weapons from Russia while being regional partners of the United States. Jakarta closed a $1.14 billion pact for Sukhoi fighters recently, while Vietnam is seeking more jet fighter-bombers from Russia.
And with both Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defense Corporation, which makes the S-400, and Rosoboronexport, which negotiates Russian export deals, listed as under sanction, those deals have become trickier.
"The optics of a major arms purchase from Russia looks quite `iffy` from the point of view of Western capitals, especially at a time when Russia-West relations are at an all-time low and India seeks strategic convergence with the West, including with the U.S." said Abhijnan Rej, a defence strategy expert at Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi think tank.
The U.S.-led airstrikes this month against facilities of the Syrian government, an ally of Russia, has further aggravated tensions between the superpowers.
