Russian news agencies on Sunday quoted Dmitry Shugayev, the head of the Russian Military Cooperation Agency, as saying that Russia has started supplying the S-400 air defense missile system to India.
Supplies put India at risk of sanctions from the United States 2017 US law Its purpose is to prevent countries from buying Russian military hardware.
“The first supplies have already started,” interfax Shugayev was quoted as saying at an aerospace trade show in Dubai on Sunday.
He said the first unit of the S-400 system would reach India by the end of this year.
NS $5.5 billion deal Five long-range surface-to-air missile systems, which India says are needed to counter the threat from China, were signed in 2018.
India faces a number of financial sanctions from the United States under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for its actions against Ukraine, interference in the US 2016 elections, and aid to Syria. It names Russia an adversary with North Korea and Iran.
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New Delhi said it has strategic partnerships with both the United States and Russia, while Washington told India that it was unlikely to get an exemption from CAATSA.
Last year, United States restrictions imposed Citing CAATSA on NATO-ally Turkey for receiving S-400 missiles from Russia.
The sanctions targeted the Presidency of Defense Industries, the main Turkish defense procurement and development body.
Washington too removed Turkey from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program, the most advanced aircraft in the US arsenal, used by NATO members and other US allies.
Russia said it had offered Turkey help in developing the advanced fighter jet but no agreement has been reached so far.
“We are still in the negotiation phase on this project,” Riya The new agency quoted Shugayev as saying on Sunday.