‘It tried to make India obey the American orders’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the USA tried to undermine India-Russia cooperation on the issue of the S-400 air defence missile and tried to make India obey the American orders.
Lavrov is in New Delhi for the Puti-Modi summit and inaugural 2+2 dialogue.
“S-400 deal doesn’t have only a symbolic meaning. It has a very important practical meaning for an Indian defence capability and the situation is basically underway. The deal has been implemented,” he told news agency ANI.
“We witnessed attempts on the part of the United States to undermine this cooperation & to make India obey the American orders, to follow the American vision of how this region should be developed,” the visiting Foreign Minister said.
“Our Indian friends clearly and firmly explained that they are a sovereign country & they will decide whose weapons to buy and who is going to be a partner of India in this & other areas,” he said.
In October 2018, India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems despite objections from the USA. The Trump administration had even warned to impose sanctions like it had done in the case of Turkey for acquiring S-400 missile defence systems from Russia.