NEW DELHI, Dec 8 -- The United States tried to undermine a Russian deal to sell the S-400 advanced air defence system to India, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in New Delhi on Monday.
India, a major buyer of Russian weapons, signed a $5.4 billion deal in 2018 to acquire five batteries of S-400 surface-to-air missiles despite potential risks of sanctions from the United States under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
The 2017 US law is aimed at discouraging countries from purchasing Russian military systems.
Lavrov said the missile system has a "very important practical meaning" for India's defence capabilities.
"The deal has been implemented. We witnessed at times on the part of the United States to undermine this cooperation and to make India obey the American orders, to follow the American vision of how this region should be developed, and our Indian friends clearly and firmly explained that they are a sovereign country, and they will decide on whose weapons to buy and who is going to be partner of India in this and other areas," Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday.
Indian foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told a media briefing in the evening that India started receiving S-400s this month.
-- BERNAMA
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